


All is Found

by hyghyk (eatramyeon)



Category: Monsta X (Band)
Genre: Alternate Universe - Supernatural Elements, Death, Established Relationship, Look at all these tags, M/M, kid!changkyun, leaving a tag that says, main hyunghyuk, the kiho is very brief, the story involves ghosts so
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-01-13
Updated: 2020-03-25
Packaged: 2021-02-27 11:09:02
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 33,756
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/22226170
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/eatramyeon/pseuds/hyghyk
Summary: Hyungwon would like to think he and Minhyuk know everything about each other after weathering through so many years together. That was until he learns of one secret that Minhyuk has kept from him. Minhyuk can see ghosts.
Relationships: Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M, Chae Hyungwon/Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk, Chae Hyungwon/Lee Minhyuk, Im Changkyun | I.M/Lee Minhyuk, Lee Hoseok | Wonho/Yoo Kihyun
Comments: 35
Kudos: 106





	1. Chapter 1

Hyungwon pulls his glasses off his nose, blinking the tiredness off his eyes as he sets it down. He does not look at the kid sitting down in front of him as he pinches at the bridge of his nose.

The kid is in his school uniform, crumpled from the long day. 

It has been a long day too, for the adult sitting across him. It’s getting longer the more seconds they spend in silence.

Hyungwon thought that perhaps the glasses made him seem too serious, or scary. Or maybe as an adult he would give off a sense of authority? Resembling that of his teachers? Or parents? 

Hyungwon does not want that. He’s none of those, and it’s important the boy in front of him to recognize that. 

"I understand it may be hard to speak to a stranger, someone you've just met," he says, eyes trained on his action of wiping his glasses with a handkerchief, finally staring at the boy in front of him again after. "But I hope you know that you have someone here ready to help, and always ready to listen to whatever you have to say."

The boy doesn't look at him, merely training his eyes down at the carpeted floor, arms crossed; drawn back.

It had been almost an hour and the boy had not uttered a single word.

"I'm not here to force you to go to school, or anything like that," he resumes, found the clear sight of his notepad lying blank and empty on his lap through his glasses. He finds no need for for the notepad, so he sets it aside. "I'm not your teacher. And I'm not your parent."

He then leans forward, hands clasped together and he smiles softly at the kid, mustering the most reassuring tone he is able to.

"Maybe you are not ready to talk, and that is okay. Perhaps you would like more time? You can come back some other day and we'll talk?"

He gets a small shrug from the otherwise unresponsive boy. But it was a response all the same.

He leans back with a smile, satisfied. "Let's meet again then."

The boy takes it as a permission to leave, quickly grabbing his schoolbag and heaving himself off the couch. Hyungwon holds the door open for the boy to walk out of the room, greeting the mother waiting outside. 

He informs the mother that the receptionist will give them a new appointment date and they will work on the issue together from there. He gets a heartfelt thank you, before he returns back into his office to type in the notes from the session on his computer.

The office turns absolutely quiet, except for the soft humming of the heater. The lights may have flickered a little bit that Hyungwon's reminded to have someone come and check on the lights.

But right now he just needs to finish typing in the notes, and he should be ready to head home. He's already thinking of spending the night watching a new film on netflix, as he pauses all his actions, staring at the framed photo on the desk next to his computer.

He completes the last sentence he's writing. And looks at the note he had stuck on the wooden photo frame, under the smiling face of a man in a white shirt, against white background.

 _You keep me grounded_ , it says.

Found stuck on his notebook one morning, when the other had left for work.

Hyungwon never mentions it, but keeps it there as a reminder, especially on bad days.

It's also a reminder that he needs to get home, there's a person waiting for him at home, having been on sick leave for these past few days. So he packs his things, shuts down the computer and puts on his coat.

It's raining when he looks out the door of his workplace, quickly grabbing the black umbrella to shield him from the rain.

And the drive home is filled with some jazz tunes he's put on from the night before, after dinner at a local restaurant nearby.

When he gets home he shakes the rain off the umbrella, setting it down next to a pink one at the entrance. And the house is quiet as he takes off his shoes.

"Minhyuk, I'm home," he calls out, getting no answer.

Figuring the other must be in their bedroom, he shuffles against the wooden floor of the foyer, stopping right after a second when he notices the photo frame on the credenza, lying face down.

Strange, he finds, slowly reaching for it and placing it upright again. He stares at the two smiling faces, both dressed in matching white shirts, stares at the two arms around himself in the photo taken before the big event. Places his keys into the small ceramic bowl on the wooden furniture.

And the light flickers a little at the entrance, disrupting his trance and Hyungwon just sighs under the muffled sound of the rain.

There are Chinese takeouts on the dining table as he headed for the room. 

His arrival must have been anticipated, since they are untouched.

Just as Hyungwon steps to the door of his bedroom he hears whispers.

"Yeah, is that it?" The familiar voice asks at the other side of the door. "Would you like me to—"

When Hyungwon pushes the door open, he had expected to find the owner of the voice on the phone.

Yet Minhyuk's head just turns to him, looking almost alarmed. There is no phone in Minhyuk's hand. He’s alone on the bed.

And he swears Minhyuk was looking at something in front of the bed.

"Hyungwon? I didn't hear you arriving home," Minhyuk manages a smile for him.

Hyungwon shrugs, warily looking around the room for any signs of someone else. As usual. He knows he won't find anybody. Not even in the closet where he hangs his coat.

He knows it well by now he won't find anything, but knows those few times he came home he swore Minhyuk was talking to someone.

Or himself.

But why?

"Were you on the phone?" Hyungwon decides to ask, turning around from the closet to look at Minhyuk, and there it is, in Minhyuk's hand. His phone. That was quick, Hyungwon’s thinking. "I heard you talking."

Minhyuk nods, getting up from the bed. "Yeah," he pockets his phone, shuffling towards the other and cupping his face with both of his hands. His fingers are cold against Hyungwon’s cheeks but it’s soothing all the same. "How was work?"

"As usual," Hyungwon shrugs, getting soft scratches from the hands that are running through his hair now. The gesture tells him that he’s finally home since it erases all thoughts of work in Hyungwon’s head. "How are you feeling? Did you rest well today?"

Minhyuk nods enthusiastically. "I can return to work next week."

"Good," Hyungwon takes a deep breath, reaching out to wrap his arms around Minhyuk. "I get worried. You seem so tired recently."

"I know. I feel fine now." Minhyuk slips away from him, sitting on the bed again.

It was rather strange. Minhyuk had always been the more resilient of the two yet he had been so weak lately, unable to get up from the bed sometimes and having unbearable migraines. He travels a lot for his work, meets a lot of people and it might have taken a toll on him so Hyungwon attributed it to burnout, but Minhyuk told him work is fine. His workload is fine too. 

Home is absolutely perfect.

So somehow Hyungwon wants to attribute it to why Minhyuk's been talking to himself. The two thing seemed to have similar starting point and he thinks it's worth trying to see if they correlate. And does not know any other way around it, deciding to dive into it straightaway.

"I noticed you've been a little distracted lately. And correct me if I'm wrong, but Minhyuk, do you really think I do not know that you have been talking to yourself?"

Minhyuk swallows a lump in his throat, seemingly to have known this was coming. "What are you talking about?" He attempts to play clueless, straightening up on the bed with his hands loosely clasped together.

Familiar with the play, Hyungwon sighs, approaching the bed. "That's it, I'm pulling the marriage card."

"That's not fair!" Minhyuk immediately protests by slamming his hands down on the bed.

"We promised no secrets after marriage."

Minhyuk puffs out his cheeks. "Unless it is super embarrassing like that time you ran through the glass door cause you thought it was opened and got a bruise on your head."

Hyungwon hisses, "That condition was only there cause you told everyone about it!"

It was during dinner at his in-laws. While the old pair had laughed their butts off over the story, Hyungwon had been miserable. It was one thing to be taken aback by their delight in Hyungwon's injury since he was used to his own judgmental parents, but it's also another thing to have his good, responsible husband image be ruined by that one incident. 

The reminder of his in-laws who had a good laugh about it leaves him feeling red with old embarrassment again. He had wished he hadn't told his own husband why he got a bruise on his forehead one day but Minhyuk gets so worried and tried to treat him like he broke his neck or something. He was fussing over _boo-boos_ and everything, blowing on the bruise as an attempt to make it better.

"Anyway, it's super embarrassing."

"No, it's not."

"You don't even know what it is."

"I just wanna know why you've been having conversations with no one!" Hyungwon sighs exasperatedly.

Minhyuk seems to contemplate whether to tell him or not, and Hyungwon— ever the observant person— does not miss how he glances at the corner of the bedroom, chewing on his own lips.

"Okay, I'll tell you," Minhyuk says defeatedly after much thought. "But on one condition. You can't treat me like all those people you see for work."

Hyungwon nods slowly, finding it strange for Minhyuk to say that.

"Come here."

Hyungwon raises his eyebrows, taking steps towards his husband, and when Minhyuk gestures for him to lean down he just sighs again, "why do you have to always whisper everything to me?" 

Minhyuk catches his tie in retaliation, and pulls Hyungwon down. Hyungwon decides not to protest, having been so used to Minhyuk's habit of whispering things, so he leans down and Minhyuk cups a hand around his ear.

Through that ear he can hear Minhyuk breathing, and Minhyuk's voice is clear, and there is no hint of laughter, unlike when he wants to whisper a stupid joke to Hyungwon.

"Hyungwon, I was talking to a ghost."

Hyungwon turns his head, instantly meeting Minhyuk eye to eye. "I'm sorry what?"

Minhyuk whispers into his ear again. "I can see ghosts."

Hyungwon pulls away, pacing in the bedroom. "No, you're joking." He stops, turns to Minhyuk who's just staring at him hopefully from the bed. "Please say you're joking?"

"I'm not," Minhyuk tells him earnestly and Hyungwon's scared how he knows Minhyuk is telling the truth. "I told you the secret already and now you want it to be a joke?"

"I mean, you can see them and talk to them?"

"Yes!" Minhyuk whispers loudly.

"Since when?" Hyungwon whispers loudly in return too, leaning towards Minhyuk.

"Since a long time ago!"

"Why are we whispering?"

Minhyuk rolls his eyes.

Hyungwon crosses his arms, thinking about everything. "No, no, no, we have to get to the hospital— this is already auditory and visual—"

"I told you not to treat me like your clients!" Minhyuk cuts him off.

It has the other throwing his hands in the air. "This is absurd, Minhyuk! There are no such thing as ghosts!"

And Minhyuk quickly shushes him with a finger on his lips. "He can hear you!"

It's Hyungwon's turn to rolls his eyes. Settling his hands on his hips he then gives Minhyuk that daring look they always exchange when they want to see who can spit watermelon seeds on to their forehead during summers.

"Prove it to me then."

"Okay," Minhyuk exhales. "I guess I can try to."

Hyungwon blinks as Minhyuk turns to one corner of the room. And if the curiosity did not peak in his mind then that would be a lie, he is curious to death of what Minhyuk is about to do. And no matter how many times he blinks or if he even takes off and puts his glasses back on he knows he’d never make out anyone in the corner of the room.

"Hey," Minhyuk speaks softly at nothing. And no matter how much Hyungwon squints he still can't see anything there. "Hyungwon can't see you. So do you think you can do something to prove you're here?"

A pause. 

Minhyuk nods.

"I don't know. Would you like to move something? Can you do that?"

Hyungwon eyes Minhyuk suspiciously as he follows Minhyuk's gaze moving towards the other side of the bed.

And when the clock on the bedside table is just thrown across the room, Hyungwon loses all blood in his face.

"Changkyun! I told you not to—"

Hyungwon wakes up on the bed.

Minhyuk's face appears and immediately crowds his sight. The expression he wears on his face is of worry, surprise, and blurry. "Oh my god, are you okay?"

"Did I pass out?" Hyungwon asks hoarsely, his head hurting.

"Yeah you did," Minhyuk murmurs worriedly, giving him space when he sits up on the bed. "Just dropped down on the floor I thought you died."

Hyungwon rubs the back of his head, looking at Minhyuk after he’s handed his glasses back and put it on. "Was it—"

"No it was not a dream," his husband quickly says and Hyungwon thinks he might pass out again.

But he just looks around warily.

Minhyuk frowns. "He's not here anymore."

"Where did he go?"

"I don't know."

"Back to ghostland, I suppose," he scoffs and earns a hit on his arm. "Ow! Minhyuk!"

"You don't believe me," Minhyuk pouts, crossing his arms and turning away on the bed. "You pulled the marriage card and still won't believe me."

Hyungwon stares at the back of his head, and sighs quietly. Minhyuk's right. Just because he's a sceptic does not mean Minhyuk lies.

"I'm sorry," he says, nearing the other. "I just— I don't know how to handle this, I mean, the thing just flew across the room and—"

He blinks, searches for the appropriate word.

"It surprised me how there's a secret of yours I don't know about."

Minhyuk cranes his neck, eyes shimmering a little. He actually seems apologetic about it. "You think it's ridiculous."

Hyungwon quickly shakes his head. "At first, yeah, but what I saw was real wasn't it?"

Minhyuk nods, turning towards him now and Hyungwon takes it as a good sign, reaching for his hands gently. 

"How did you keep it from me all these years?" He asks, his thumb brushing against the wedding ring on Minhyuk's finger, reminding his husband the knot they had tied, the vows they made for each other and the promises that they would weather through life until death together.

Or at least continue until the afterlife as ghosts, or whatever. Because apparently that's a thing now.

"It felt kind of trivial, and I’m so used to it I barely remember I can see ghosts unlike other people," Minhyuk murmurs. 

"Since when?" Hyungwon blinks confusedly.

"Do you remember that time I told you I got into a car accident?"

"Yeah, you were ten. You got that scar."

Minhyuk nods encouragingly, knows that Hyungwon remembers every detail Minhyuk has ever disclosed to him. He had been with his mother. They were both hurt, but it wasn't life threatening.

"I hit my head or something, but I noticed I started seeing people others can't see."

Hyungwon holds his hand tighter. "You must have been so scared."

At this, Minhyuk actually smiles and chuckles a little. It makes Hyungwon smile too.

"No. They don't look scary like the ones in movies."

"Oh thank god."

"They look like normal people," Minhyuk pauses, thinking, and Hyungwon scrutinizes the scrunch on his nose. "They just don't feel like it, if you know what I mean."

Hyungwon admits he can't imagine it, so he just hums under the pitter-patter of the rain outside.

"Anyway, I just see them and talk to them sometimes. It’s not often, so they’re never any trouble," Minhyuk tells him and quickly adds, "they never mean anything bad! In case you're worried about that. They're just… lost. And I give them directions."

"So you're like a medium who guides dead people to the real afterlife now huh?"

Minhyuk hit him on the neck for his attempt at being snarky and Hyungwon groans a little.

"When I said lost I literally meant lost," Minhyuk explains exasperatedly. "They want to find their home and I google their address for them and give them directions."

Hyungwon nods dumbly, that was not how he expected things to be when Minhyuk said he can talk to ghosts. "But it's their home, how can they get lost?"

"Well, according to this shaman ghost I once met, there is a phase, life of a human to spirit, and it may result in loss of memory meaning they lose bits and pieces of their life."

"A shaman ghost," Hyungwon scoffs. "That's convenient."

Minhyuk glares at him. 

"Okay, okay, but did this shaman explain why you could see ghosts after the accident?" 

"Something about how my brain was rewired, and you know how those old radio stations have frequency that we have to match? I just happen to have matching frequencies with the ghosts too."

Hyungwon nods. That kind of makes sense. 

"So this ghost who threw the clock, are they lost? Why can't you just give them directions and they will be on their way? I swear you've been talking to this ghost for a week already."

"The ghost's name is Changkyun. And well, he does not even know where his home is, so I can't give him directions either. This is my first time spending so much time around a ghost."

Hyungwon crosses his arms together. "So what? He's angry that's why he threw the clock like that?"

"No," his husband replies as a matter of factly. "You wanted proof and you got it. You even passed out too."

"I was sleepy."

"Yeah, right."

"Anyway," Hyungwon takes a deep breath, looking around and making sure there is nothing out of place in their bedroom. "He's not here right? Where would he go?"

Minhyuk shrugs. "I don't know. Sometimes they just disappear for a while, and come back. It's like they disappear to sleep or something, like we do. And when they wake up they would reappear."

"So this Changkyun guy is coming back soon?"

Minhyuk nods. "And actually, he's a kid."

"What?"

"He says he’s 4 years old."

" _4 years old_?"

Minhyuk shrugs. "And, from what I know it seems like it has been a while since he, um, passed away. He wears this watch, you know like the ones we wear when we were kids?"

Hyungwon nods.

"And it seems like he's been wandering around by himself for a while now, and I'm the first person who can see him."

Hyungwon thinks for a while, standing up from the bed. "So if we send him home he won't be bothering you anymore?"

"Hyungwon, you don't understand. He's just a lost kid. And I think he doesn't even know that he's, well, _died_."

"That's sad."

"Very sad."

Hyungwon nears his husband, and squats down to look at him properly. He grasps at Minhyuk's hands on his knees. Carefully, taking each fingers into his hands and holding them tightly. "What are you thinking of doing for him now?"

"I uh, don't know, to be honest."

Hyungwon nods. "Find his home and take him there maybe?" Hyungwon adds helpfully. "I'll help."

Minhyuk smiles a little uncertainly. "You will?"

"Yeah, of course. But you're gonna have to be the one to ask him for information, since I can't see or talk to him."

Minhyuk nods enthusiastically. He clutches Hyungwon's hands together against his chest, and kisses him gently. "Thank you, Hyungwon," he murmurs.

"You know, it just dawned on me why you like to whisper even when it's just the two of us."

Like that one time in the karaoke room. The music was blaring but Minhyuk only whispered praises for his singing. Hyungwon thought he was just being shy. 

"Because the ghosts can hear me," Minhyuk smiles softly, and he lowers his gaze, a little guilty. 

_Oh god, did the ghosts hear him singing to girl group songs?_

"And some things are just meant for you."

Hyungwon wants to coo at him and maybe pull him into his arms, but he stops himself as he blinks, going rigid all over. "Wait, does that mean when we—"

"No, I make sure it's always just the two of us," Minhyuk sighs heavily, getting up, and pulling at Hyungwon's hands. "Now let's eat, I'm hungry."

Hyungwon lets him lead him out of their bedroom, and he might be smiling like an idiot as he thinks of all the time Minhyuk would whisper sweet little things to him and how he's so thankful he's always ready to hear each and every single word that escapes his husband's lips when Minhyuk’s grip tightens around his hands. 

"Changkyun!" Minhyuk suddenly exclaims on their way to the dining table, and he lets go of Hyungwon's hand, rushing over into the living room and squatting at the side of the couch.

Hyungwon watches with a racing heart as he can't quite believe how his husband just reaches out to nothing, strokes at nothing and speaks to nothing.

"I was so worried about you, you just disappeared when Hyungwon passed out!" Minhyuk sounds genuinely worried, probably stroking the ghost child's hair. 

Warily, Hyungwon tries to act normal, walking to the table and keeping his eyes on Minhyuk.

Minhyuk changes so drastically when he speaks to kids, and while it’s something Hyungwon has acknowledged a long time ago—Minhyuk has always been the one who likes kids more than Hyungwon— it’s still captivating how gentle he is around kids compared to when he’s hitting Hyungwon playfully for Hyungwon’s usual snarky remarks and stupid jokes.

"No, he's not scared. He was just shocked he can't see you like I do," Minhyuk says in a low voice, his huge hands probably holding onto smaller ones, eyes shimmering in his attempt to soothe the ghost child. "But now it's better because we can talk with him around!"

Hyungwon takes the takeout boxes out of the bags, setting them on the table as Minhyuk happily comes to him and sits at his usual seat on the table. He pulls the chair next to him out, and Hyungwon, thinking it was an invitation to sit next to him tries to sit but Minhyuk pushes him.

"Changkyun's gonna sit here!" Minhyuk exclaims. "Why don't you just sit at your usual seat?" 

Confused, Hyungwon takes a moment to just blink at his own husband. "Okay." He sits in front of Minhyuk and watches as Minhyuk resumes talking to no one beside him.

He eats and munches on his food, and still can't seem to wrap his head around the fact that there is a ghost at the table, right next to his own husband. And his husband is just speaking to the ghost. He wonders if it had always been that way since Minhyuk had been staying home all alone while he was working.

No wonder Minhyuk didn’t have a hard time letting Hyungwon go to work all week. Before they got married Minhyuk used to wrap himself around Hyungwon just so Hyungwon has a harder time leaving. It was obnoxious, he can make himself heavier if he wanted to, didn’t even let go even if he was dragged along and Hyungwon had never been one about strength in the first place. 

"So," he decides to join in the conversation, and Minhyuk raises his eyebrows at him expectantly. Hyungwon clears his throat a little, glancing at the empty seat next to Minhyuk. “Does— does he eat?”

Minhyuk looks at Changkyun, blinking thoughtfully. “You don’t, don’t you?” He waits for a few seconds, then turns to Hyungwon again. “It seems they don’t get hungry. It’s like how they don’t need sleep anymore, so I guess it’s the same for other basic needs.”

Hyungwon nods slowly, digesting the idea of living without sleep and eating. “H-how is he?”

Minhyuk smiles at Hyungwon. It seems he’s glad that Hyungwon’s taking the news well, and is still curious as usual about things. He welcomes the questions, answers thoughtfully. “He’s very quiet,” He tells Hyungwon, smiling down at the empty seat. “Very well behaved too. He’s been a very nice company at the house actually.”

He reaches out to stroke at the ghost’s head it seems, and something about the gesture is making Minhyuk beam even brighter, that Hyungwon blinks at the sight of it.

“Okay,” Hyungwon mutters, still eating. “What’s his full name?”

“Im Changkyun.” Minhyuk answers immediately, it seems he’s gone over this before. “And before you do, save it, I already googled. No matches comes up.”

Hyungwon nods thoughtfully. Well, considering how Minhyuk told him the ghost seemed to have passed away a long time ago, internet searches might be futile. 

“Do you remember where you live?” Hyungwon leans forward across the table, looking at the empty seat, trying to gauge where a 4 year old’s eyes might be if they’re sitting there.

“He says he only remembers a cliff,” Minhyuk tells him. And he looks at Hyungwon almost defeatedly.

“There’s a lot of cliffs in this country,” Minhyuk tells him after Hyungwon gets out of the shower. He had been with Changkyun in the living room. “So I don’t really know where we should start.”

“Where’s Changkyun?” Hyungwon asks him instead.

Minhyuk shrugs, smiling slightly. “He went away again.”

“Does he get tired? I mean, do they?”

“I don’t know,” Minhyuk yawns, rubbing his eyes tiredly. “I don’t really know how they work. This is the longest time I’ve spent with a spirit. Usually I would just send them on their way. It barely takes a day. Did you know the old guy at the end of the road actually visited me, looking for his house?”

“That’s creepy, we went to his funeral and everything,” Hyungwon retorts, shuddering as he watches Minhyuk sitting down on the bed. “But I suppose, you’re used to it?”

Minhyuk looks up at him, shrugging again.

He sits down beside his husband, pulling him closer by the shoulder. And Minhyuk appreciates the comforting squeeze on the shoulder with a hum, leaning on Hyungwon’s shoulder in return. 

“Tired?”

Minhyuk sighs a little. “Yeah.”

Hyungwon smiles down at him. “Considering you were babysitting a 4 year old the whole day…” His voice trails off because Minhyuk lifts his head from Hyungwon’s shoulder and takes his hand.

“He’s fine. He behaves really well,” Minhyuk tells him, chin on his husband’s shoulder. “It’s just that, you know how I told you about the radio? And how radio uses power to transmit? It’s like that too. I notice that I get really tired when I interact with them.”

Hyungwon brushes at his bangs and it makes Minhyuk blink unevenly. “Oh?”

Minhyuk nods.

“So it wasn’t work?”

“Not really,” Minhyuk shakes his head, chuckling a little. “I’m sorry I never really told you why I get so tired lately. You know I love my job, and I know you worry about me overworking myself.”

“It’s fine.” Hyungwon follows him to lie on the bed. “You’ve been resting well, though, haven’t you?”

Minhyuk just smiles at him as his eyes flutter close. And then he’s fast asleep, so Hyungwon turns off the lights.

There are papers with drawings in the living room, Hyungwon finds next morning, when he’s making coffee. Minhyuk must have left it there last night, along with the coloring stationery and coloring books.

He looks at them on the coffee table, the tv playing the morning news. The crayons roll aside with small thrumming sound as he lifts the papers closer to his eyes.

He scrutinizes the paper filled with the color grey. Half of the paper is a darker grey than the other one.

Another drawing shows some black, worm looking creature, within a circle.

“Good morning,” Minhyuk comes shuffling into the kitchen, his hair messy since he doesn’t have to go to work. He pours them coffee and sits next to Hyungwon in his robe, handing the other the hot mug.

Hyungwon’s still staring at the drawings as he sips on his coffee.

“Changkyun drew those,” Minhyuk tells him.

“When did you buy all these?” Hyungwon asks instead of the questions in his mind about the drawings. 

Minhyuk smiles almost sheepishly. “When you were out working.”

Hyungwon gives him a look. “And you hide them every time I come home?”

Minhyuk averts his stare, taking the paper in his hand instead as he blows at his coffee a little. “What do you think this is?”

“How would I know?” Hyungwon sighs. “Kids and their imagination.”

He gets up after finishing his coffee, and after he washes the dishes left in the sink, he watches Minhyuk tilting his head in the living room, just staring at the drawing and the books. Minhyuk’s smiling in the bright living room, he finds, flipping through the coloring book that is colored messily, while Hyungwon just wipes his hands with the towel in the kitchen.

“I’ll contact some of the people I know,” he tells Minhyuk. “Ask around, maybe we can get some information on him and send him home soon.”

Minhyuk walks to the kitchen counter, frowning a little. “Oh, you can do that?”

“Yeah. I know people, you know,” he chuckles slightly. “When we played that game and you asked me if I’d bury a body for you and use my connections to keep us out of prison, I think this is similar to that, isn’t it?”

He doesn’t know why he thought Minhyuk would find it funny, but he regrets it when Minhyuk just scowls at him. 

“Who are you going to ask?” he asks Hyungwon instead, crossing his arms together.

“I don’t know,” he mutters, a little confused at the scowl sticking on Minhyuk’s face. “This journalist I know, or Hyunwoo-hyung maybe. He’s gotten that promotion recently and still owes me a favor—hey, you okay there?”

Minhyuk blinks, as if he’s pulled out of a trance and shakes his head quickly. “I’m fine, still a little tired I guess.”

“Is he here?” Hyungwon looks around in case anything is out of place, but of course seeing nothing is also expected.

“No, not yet,” Minhyuk puts down his mug on the counter, turning away from him. “He’ll come soon enough, I know that.”

Hyungwon watches as he starts tidying up the books and stationery on the table. “I’m going to work.”

And when Minhyuk fixes his tie and sees him off at the door, he pressed their foreheads together, kisses his husband goodbye before Minhyuk tells him to have a good day.

His connections haven’t gotten back to him by the time he gets home. And Minhyuk’s also watching a Pixar movie by the time he gets home. He was laughing at something very loudly that he didn’t even hear Hyungwon coming in.

“I didn’t hear you coming in!” Minhyuk says in surprise, finding Hyungwon shuffling into the kitchen to unpack the takeouts for dinner.

Hyungwon just smiles at him. “You and Changkyun are having fun,” he tries, and Minhyuk smiles, glancing to his side. 

“He likes this movie.”

“Uhuh,” Hyungwon nods absentmindedly, preparing dinner while Minhyuk resumes watching the movie.

He sees the dent on the couch next to Minhyuk when he’s placing the dishes on the table. And he thinks, Changkyun is there. He’s really there. This 4 year old ghost who’s been staying with his husband when he’s alone at home. Rendering him tired at the end of the day because of this ability he has to communicate with ghosts.

“Come have dinner,” he calls Minhyuk.

It was unexpected.

It was also natural.

Hyungwon doesn’t know how he wakes up in the morning one day and walks out of the bedroom to find Minhyuk sitting there with breakfast, a kid sitting on his lap.

He had to do a double take. A triple take. Blink the boogers out of his eyes maybe because he’s certain he’s not seeing things wrongly. Is there a kid shaped stain on his glasses?

“Hyungwon?”

“What the—Minhyuk did you—Why is there—Who is—”

“Whoa, slow down, what’s wrong?” And Minhyuk gets up, carrying the boy off his lap and settling him into the next seat, and Hyungwon’s seeing it with his own two eyes, freaking out.

And he should have been freaking out when Minhyuk has been doing that for days already, just carrying air, talking to air and touching air.

But apparently it’s creepier when he’s seeing how the boy is blinking at him that he doesn’t see Minhyuk rushing to him and cupping his face to get his attention.

“Hey,” Minhyuk’s calling him. “Earth to Hyungwon, answer me, are you okay?”

Hyungwon finally looks at him, and there’s worry etched on Minhyuk’s face. He struggles to find the words. “Changkyun,” He manages to get out.

“What about him?”

“Is that him?” Hyungwon’s voice might have quivered as he points at the boy sitting at the table, staring at him.

Minhyuk turns around, and when he looks at Hyungwon again he just gasps in disbelief.

Changkyun doesn’t look like how Hyungwon imagined him to be.

In his imagination, he would be almost transparent, and he would have a pale face. Completely black eyes as a bonus, but he scratched that idea out long ago when Minhyuk told him they don’t look as scary as they do in movies.

In fact, Changkyun looks like an ordinary kid. A 4 year old. A stained t-shirt with a picture of a famous cartoon Hyungwon remembers watching when he was a kid. Hyungwon's best guess would also be that the stain comes from chocolate milk. There's also a turquoise watch on his wrist that does not work anymore. On his feet is a pair of tattered sneakers with the shoelaces untied.

Dealing with ghosts has never meant tying their shoelaces to Hyungwon.

Yet Minhyuk’s there tying his shoelaces for him, and he’s just sitting there on the adult's lap.

They’re on the floor in the living room. Trying to make sense of what has transpired over the last few days until now.

“This is very strange,” Minhyuk tells him, their breakfast abandoned. “Are you sure you’re not imagining this?”

Hyungwon almost glares at him, but there’s something about Minhyuk’s expression. Where it teeters almost in disbelief to excitement, that holds him back. “I don’t think that’s a question _you_ should be asking, you ghost see-er.”

Minhyuk scoffs. “Okay, just to make sure—”

“He’s wearing a turquoise watch, and that cartoon t-shirt, that one cartoon we both liked when we were kids.” Hyungwon answers swiftly and Minhyuk just stares at him with round eyes.

“The one where I collected all their comic books?” Minhyuk asks softly.

Hyungwon answers with no hesitation, “Yeah.”

“Oh,” he then lets out of his mouth and not another word more, looking down at Changkyun to check if he’s right, but Hyungwon knows Minhyuk knows he’s right.

“I just don’t know why…” He reaches out carefully, Changkyun just stares at him almost cautiously—Minhyuk’s right, he’s such a quiet kid— and touches his hair. He pulls his hand immediately as if he’s hurt.

He’d expected a sensation that is sharp, cold as ice.

But no, Changkyun’s a ghost. A spirit without a body.

So of course Hyungwon’s hand had caught nothing, touched nothing but air. Minhyuk’s arms might as well be empty.

He looks over Changkyun again, and he’s snug in Minhyuk’s arm, curling into his husband a little because of whatever expression Hyungwon is wearing on his face. So Hyungwon straightens himself up, fixes his expression into one that is friendlier, he hopes.

“Hi,” Hyungwon tries his best to smile. He thinks they started on the wrong foot. “I’m Hyungwon.”

The boy is silent, and he looks up at Minhyuk, who blinks at him almost confusedly.

“Go ahead, introduce yourself,” Minhyuk smiles at him encouragingly.

And the boy sounds normal. His voice is small, unused. “Changkyun.”

“That’s very good,” Minhyuk praises him, and shifts him so they’re all sitting on the floor now. “It’s the first word he’s spoken all day,” he whispers to Hyungwon a hand cupped around his ear, and Hyungwon nods.

“I don’t think I understand,” Hyungwon tells Minhyuk later that night, when they’re getting ready to sleep. They're dressed in their matching pajamas that Minhyuk insists they wear at least once a week.

He had spent his time after dinner watching Minhyuk play with the little boy. The boy he could see but not touch.

And now Minhyuk’s just patting and patting moisturizer onto his face, another hand holding his hair back.

“Out of all the days—” _pat pat on his mouth_ “—only today—” _pat pat on his eyes_ and he thinks Minhyuk is just slapping him now. He can’t seem to continue his sentence. 

Changkyun has disappeared, running off into the hallway after coloring a picture of a seashell where he vanished into thin air.

Minhyuk had to calm Hyungwon down for almost an hour because he couldn’t stop blabbering about how _he just ran! He just vanished into nothing!_

Hyungwon thinks later that Changkyun was trying to get out of trouble—he’d stained his shirt with crayons from trying to color the cartoon on his shirt, and he had scrawled some things on the floor with the same crayons that Hyungwon spent forever trying to wipe clean.

He has to admit this kid is going to get on his nerves sometimes now that he can see him. He knows how kids work. Their brain is the most developed when it comes to getting them out of trouble.

“Why am I only seeing him now?” Hyungwon asks then, sitting on the bed and pulling the blanket on himself. His face is tingling from Minhyuk’s light slaps but at least it’s moisturized. Only Minhyuk can get him to keep up with these skincare routines.

Minhyuk hums, lathering lotion on his hands at the dresser now. “I don’t understand it too, you can see him but you can’t touch him.”

Minhyuk sits next to him then, taking his hands in his. His hands are gentle when he’s rubbing the lotion on his hands onto Hyungwon’s, just intertwining their fingers together smoothly. He’s then blinking at Hyungwon who hums as he lost himself deep in thought. Minhyuk chuckles when Hyungwon yawns, unable to cover his mouth since Minhyuk’s holding onto his hands. 

“It’s taking the energy out of you too?” He asks, brushing at Hyungwon’s hair fondly.

There’s a certain heaviness that weigh in Hyungwon now, a certain heat in his mind from overworking, processing the fact that he has a kid in his house, and he can see him but if he just reached out his hand would go right through the boy. Admittedly, it is hard to process, especially when the one who’s supposed to be seeing ghosts was Minhyuk—as if that wasn’t hard enough to process—but somehow it feels like deep down he knew he’d see the boy too.

“I’m really tired too.” Yawning is contagious, because Minhyuk yawns. “I’m gonna sleep.”

Hyungwon pulls him closer for a goodnight kiss, their foreheads pressed against each other and suddenly Minhyuk gasps, eyes wide.

“Honey! I think I got it!”

“What?”

Minhyuk shifts excitedly on the bed—almost bouncing, grinning with excitement, like when he guesses the singers right on the singing program on tv at nights. “You know that thing you told me about once, some theory or whatever, where you can rewire your brains just by changing your thoughts?”

Hyungwon blinks, and nods. He’s familiar with it, “Go on.”

“Oh man,” Minhyuk lifts his hands to search for the proper explanation. “It’s like what the shaman said, remember? _Rewire_ , but in my case it was head trauma. But for you, I finally told you about this ghost thing, and now that you know I can see ghosts, you know of their existence too, and—and—”

“If we’re taking that radio analogy, basically we’re on the same frequency now?”

“Yes!” Minhyuk bounces on the bed. “Yes, you’re right! You took the words right out of my mouth!” 

He presses a really strong kiss on Hyungwon’s lips that Hyungwon’s dazed by the time he pulls away.

“This is amazing!” Minhyuk laughs excitedly, clapping his hands. “If I had known this would happen I would have told you about it earlier!”

That earns him a scoff, as Hyungwon lies on the bed, already curling on himself. He’s still a little bitter it has taken him this long to find out the secret. No matter how crazy the secret is and how he knows he wouldn’t believe Minhyuk from the get go. It’s irrational, but nothing about his feelings for Minhyuk had been rational.

Minhyuk scratched his brand new, beloved car after a test drive without his permission once, and he’d almost cried.

“My baby!” He’d wailed, his trembling hand carefully resting on the obvious scratch.

Minhyuk had simply put his hand on Hyungwon’s, looked at him right in his eyes with that no bullshit expression on his face and said, “ _Our baby._ ”

That had made things fine, even when Hyungwon had to take out a couple hundred dollars out of his wallet to fix it. Because despite Hyungwon being a man of facts and logics and how he’d tell people it is completely _rational_ and _valid_ to get angry at someone who scratched your new car when they know so well how they failed their driving test, he would always surrender to the fact that Minhyuk had _always_ had that sense of irrationality for Hyungwon. It’s fine though. After marrying that man, he’s realized some things are irrational and that’s okay.

And as crazy it would have been for Hyungwon before the past few days and despite the irrationality of the existence of ghosts, he knew he would have believed word by word of anything Minhyuk says to him. It is just that it didn’t have to take that long for him to find out, he thinks. He’s always held Minhyuk in such high regard it’s a little upsetting Minhyuk hasn’t realized that.

Minhyuk snuggles close to him under the blanket after turning off the bed lights, noticing what’s happening.

“Hey,” he whispers.

Hyungwon has no willpower to be stubborn, not when he’s tired like this and when Minhyuk just opens his arms; so they hold one another on the bed.

“I’m happy we’re together,” Minhyuk tells him. “Just the two of us, always going through whatever life has to offer us, together.”

Hyungwon emits a small chuckle, holding him tighter, like the day he read out his vow to Minhyuk and Minhyuk had cried, almost ruining his makeup— _almost —_ but Hyungwon had cried a _storm_.

That day he made it clear Minhyuk’s everything to him because he’s the only one he’s got now. And he’s enough.

“I love you,” Hyungwon tells him before he falls asleep.

And in the early morning, Changkyun’s in the living room again, resuming coloring his cartoon seashells as if yesterday didn’t happen.

And Hyungwon had stared at the boy amusedly with Minhyuk standing at his side.

The boy’s shirt lost its crayon stain, left with only the old, original stain on it.

So Hyungwon whips his head around to look at Minhyuk in light glee, with the thoughts of him struggling to clean the floor the other day that his arms and back ached.

“A self-cleaning kid!”

Just when Hyungwon has gotten used to the situation of seeing a ghost playing around in his house with his husband now, he should have known things aren't settling down so easily like that. Marrying Minhyuk wasn’t easy after all, what with the family drama and everything (thank god they’re past that), but being married to Minhyuk who he has only find out can _see and talk_ to ghosts takes the cake, because he knows he needs to be prepared for new experiences now. Experiences that he knew he would have never thought of signing up for. 

As cheesy as it sounds, if Hyungwon was asked for example of what they are; he’d first answer with one word, that is _love_.

An overwhelming one that sometimes he feels like he might combust, or cry so hard that the tears might last him a year of crying.

Other than that, it’s knowing someone who hates cucumber with so much passion that not even Hyungwon’s allowed near it. Because they take the long way round the grocery store just to avoid it and it was a whole experience the first time it happened.

“The devil’s food,” Minhyuk has labeled it before.

So the house never has cucumbers.

Hyungwon who surprisingly eats cucumbers even though he is not a veggie person, has accepted that this is his life now. Cucumbers don’t exist in this house. It’s the law now.

But the house has ghosts.

Plural, because one night as Hyungwon was looking through the fridge to find some midnight snack—Minhyuk was in the bedroom reading some books with Changkyun—only to find none and closing the door in disappointment just to find a big man already standing by the fridge.

“What the fu—!”

And he swears he’s gonna get a heart attack soon cause in his shock he’s scrambling with the pans and spatulas by the sink, slipping on the floor to land right on his butt.

“Minhyuk, run! There’s an intruder!” Was his first instinct to scream as he’s still scrambling to get up but keeps on slipping in his panic while the man before him just stares at him, looking bewildered.

“Oh my god! Hyungwon, are you okay?!” Minhyuk’s thudding steps echo in the house and he rushes to the kitchen, halting immediately at the sight of the man standing by the fridge.

“You can see me?” The unknown man asks Hyungwon who’s gawking at the guy because while he might be just a tad shorter than Hyungwon, he’s big, looks like he can kill Hyungwon with one hand and Hyungwon doesn’t know how to get Minhyuk safely out of the house.

“What do you mean can I see you?” Hyungwon stammers, grabbing the top of the counter and managing to stand in a defensive stance.

“Hyungwon,” Minhyuk calls, walking to him but Hyungwon puts his arm out, keeping himself in between the stranger and him. “I think he’s—”

“Minhyuk, take Changkyun with you, I’m calling the police,” Hyungwon quickly says, grabbing a pan, but missing the handle that it just falls onto the floor, clanking loudly everyone flinched in the kitchen.

It’s silent for the short time the pan settles down on the floor.

“Hyungwon I think he’s harmless,” Minhyuk quickly says then, grabbing at his arm when Hyungwon resorts to reach for the wooden spatula.

Hyungwon stops. Blinks, and looks at the man again.

He’s pale. But not ghostly pale.

“You’re a ghost?”

“I’m a what?” The man retorts in return and Hyungwon almost trips backward on his own foot when he takes a step forward. 

Minhyuk pushes himself past a worried Hyungwon, and stares at the man. “We um,” he lets out, thinking of what to say. “I’m sorry, but me and my husband—” he gestures to Hyungwon who swallows a lump in his throat at the situation. “—we think you’re a ghost.”

The man gasps, hands covering his mouth instantly it’s almost funny how childish the action looks on a strongly built man like he is. 

“Do you wanna sit down?” Minhyuk offers, and the man takes a seat at the counter like he lost the feel of his legs while Hyungwon picks up the pan on the floor to return it to its place. He rubs at his hurting back, hissing a little.

There’s a warm soothing hand that replaces his, and when he looks to his side he finds Minhyuk smiling at him softly. He seems apologetic for what happened but Hyungwon tells him with his eyes that it’s not his fault. It’s not like he invited the ghost over to their house.

The said ghost now clasps his hands together on the counter, thinking and muttering to himself under the kitchen lights. Hyungwon sees a shiny ring on his finger. “Makes sense, I woke up at a strange place, people can’t see me…”

Hyungwon and Minhyuk look at one another again. This time confusedly.

“Do you remember anything, um, mister...?” Minhyuk asks carefully.

“Hoseok,” the man answers firmly. “And no, I don’t know, I just woke up really confused, and I don’t know how long I’ve been wandering around,” He stands up, still looking confused. “And whenever I tried to talk to people they didn’t answer.” He walks to fridge, opening it, sighs, and closes it again.

Hyungwon’s eyebrows furrowed in confusion at his actions. 

“And it was just scary, I felt so alone, and I don’t know how I ended up at places until I’m here and your husband could see me,” He smiles slightly at Hyungwon, looking apologetic for scaring Hyungwon in the middle of the night.

“He’s Hyungwon, and I’m Minhyuk,” Minhyuk tells Hoseok, taking a deep breath after. “And well, we’re glad we can see you.”

“Do you know how I can go home?” Hoseok asks almost desperately. “I just wanna go home.”

Minhyuk blinks at him.

They can’t seem to find anything to say to the man. Especially when the man is a stranger who just appeared in their house.

“Where’s Changkyun?” Hyungwon then murmurs to Minhyuk.

“He disappeared when you screamed from the kitchen.”

“Oh,” Hyungwon places his chin on his palm, definitely not embarrassed that he screamed like that and knowing that it must have scared Changkyun away.

“Do you know where your home is?” Minhyuk turns back to Hoseok.

Hoseok stares at the two of them, as if they would know where a total stranger’s home is.

“I don’t know.”

“There are a few neighborhood that fits his description,” Minhyuk’s chewing on his nails as he looks through the map on his phone.

Hyungwon pulls his fingers away from the gnawing teeth, looking at the map over his shoulder as he intertwines their fingers to prevent Minhyuk from indulging in his bad habit again. “He mentioned a playground nearby.”

Hoseok had tried his hardest to remember his home that his head hurt, giving them images but no street name, or what neighborhood. He remembers trees, playground, and colors of houses. He had seemed extremely upset and disappointed at himself for being unable to recall home, that he had stood up, opened the fridge door again, sighed and then walked away, where he fades into nothing.

Minhyuk tells Hyungwon Hoseok will come back soon, just like Changkyun.

And that it would be nice if they could tell him where his home is by the time he comes back.

“I don’t know,” Minhyuk sighs, putting down his phone and rubbing his eyes. He’s tired from having two ghosts present in the house. “All the neighborhood seems to have a playground. We need something more specific. All the other ghosts before at least had some specific details about their home.”

“Well, we can ask him once he comes back and I’ll take care of it but for now, I’m really tired,” Hyungwon yawns in the empty kitchen. “I was looking for snacks by the way, we’re out. Might need to get groceries soon.”

Minhyuk nods, watching Hyungwon grabbing their empty mugs to wash it at the sink. “Hey,” He calls after, when Hyungwon’s drying his hands with the kitchen towel, already drowsy that his eyelids are heavy. “If it was just me, I’d be _super_ tired right now. I guess what I mean is that, it feels like all the energy spent is cut in half now."

Hyungwon looks at him, taking it in how Minhyuk’s there in his pajama, looking up at him with this soft grateful expression so late at night. He nods gently. “Isn’t that why we’re here for each other?”

He holds out his arm, and Minhyuk chuckles, slipping off the kitchen stool and ducking his head under Hyungwon’s arm. He pulls Hyungwon’s arm around his shoulder with a sigh, leaning against Hyungwon as they walk into their shared bedroom, Hyungwon’s hand warm on the crest of Minhyuk’s shoulder.

Changkyun’s scrawling on the floor with crayons again next morning, and Hyungwon just lets out a deep, frustrated sigh at the sight. Once Changkyun notices him watching, he stops, scurries to hide behind the couch.

Minhyuk gasps when he comes out of the bedroom and finds Changkyun and Hyungwon having a staring competition.

“Changkyun!” He runs to the boy, immediately squatting in front of him and cupping the small face with his big hands. “Were you scared last night? Was it because Hyungwon screamed?”

Changkyun shakes his head, looking down in between them.

“Honey, look, he made a mess on the floor again,” Hyungwon points at the unintelligible drawings on the wooden floor.

Minhyuk gives him a stink eye. “Calm down, Hyungwon, he’s just a kid.” He picks the boy up in his arms. “Can you help me clean it though?”

“I can help you clean it,” someone says right into Hyungwon’s ear that Hyungwon jumps, shrieking in surprise only to find a confused Hoseok blinking at him.

“I’m gonna die from a heart attack,” Hyungwon mutters to himself, clutching at his own heart as he staggers to take a seat at the kitchen counter.

Minhyuk serves him a cup of coffee with Changkyun just looking at Hoseok while he moves around in the kitchen to get breakfast ready. He seems curious of the new ghost in the house. Hoseok has taken a towel from Minhyuk and started wiping the floor clean. The toaster is ticking with coming toasts.

“Am I the only thinking how crazy the situation in this house has turned?” Hyungwon asks.

The ghosts look at him, and Minhyuk raises his eyebrows at him.

“This should be usual,” he says, although almost uncertainly as he’s sitting down next to Hyungwon. He whispers into Hyungwon’s ear. “Get used to it.”

“Never,” Hyungwon mumbles out and no one catches it.

Hoseok takes a seat across from them, sighing slightly. “So? Do you think you have found my home?”

Minhyuk takes out his phone, balancing Changkyun on his lap, who’s managed to grabbed a glass ornament god knows when and is playing with it in his small hands.

Hyungwon tries not to worry if he’ll break it.

“We have some options, but I don’t know if we’re getting any closer to your home, Hoseok,” Minhyuk tells him. “We need more specific clues, like, I don’t know… the street name, or your house number, I don’t know.” He shrugs.

Hyungwon sighs, deciding to take over. He starts with one distraction that could drive him crazy the soonest; taking the glass ornament off Changkyun's hands. 

The boy looks betrayed and squirms off Minhyuk lap as a retaliation.

"Hey, don't go too far!" Minhyuk calls out worriedly when Changkyun runs through the glass door to play with pebbles in the yard.

Hyungwon turns to Hoseok. "Do you remember what you were doing before you… well, woke up?”

Hoseok frowns. “Not really.”

“Where did you wake up?”

“At this street, I don’t know.”

Hyungwon nods, trying not to think of the worst at the answer. “What was around the street? Any buildings you remember?”

The ghost makes a serious, intense thinking face and the kitchen turns quiet. Knowing people need time to think, Hyungwon takes the chance to get the toasts and give him space to think. But the toasts are too hot for his fingers and he hisses in pain.

Minhyuk rushes to his side immediately. “Oh, honey, is that a _boo-boo_?” He asks in a pout as he scrutinizes Hyungwon’s fingers he’s grabbed in his hands.

Hyungwon pouts too as he nods.

“Do you want me to blow on it to make it better?” he whispers almost excitedly to his husband.

Hyungwon nods again. Loves it when Minhyuk does that ever since their early dating times.

“It’s okay,” Minhyuk blows on the red fingertips, his breath cool on Hyungwon’s skin. “That’s fine.”

“Uh…” They find Hoseok has stopped thinking and is staring at them instead. And even Changkyun has come inside to stare at them blankly, pebbles cupped in his hands. “You know we can hear you?”

Minhyuk’s shoulders dropped down, annoyed. He just turns them away from the two ghosts to take one last look at the hurting fingers to make sure Hyungwon’s okay and was about to let go when Hyungwon holds his hands tightly instead. 

“Kiss it and make it better?” Hyungwon whispers to him.

Minhyuk smiles almost slyly, clutching at his hands and makes a dramatic show of kissing the hurting fingers with a soft smooch sound. “There.”

“Oh, honey, I’m miraculously healed!” Hyungwon gasps dramatically, looking at his hands in disbelief and Minhyuk giggles. He’s gotten good at playing along with it ever since their marriage.

“We can still hear, and _see_ you.” Hoseok clears his throat, him and Changkyun still in the same position as earlier. “You know that right?”

Minhyuk rolls his eyes as he takes the toasts instead. They never really had people watching them acting silly before it kind of ruined the whole thing.

“Says the ghost,” he then mutters under his breath, sitting at the counter again while Hyungwon takes the one next to him almost solemnly. 

“Well,” he gets back to the matter at hand. “Anything?”

Hoseok shrugged. “I’m really trying my best to recall, but I guess I work on a different kind of memory system now or my head's not working properly cause it’s so hard to simply remember.”

“It’s fine,” Minhyuk tells him, picking up Changkyun who's still cupping pebbles in his hands. “We understand.”

“I just want to go home,” he tells them, standing up with a heavy sigh, walking to the fridge, opening it and looking at the content. He shakes his hurting head, closes the door. “It feels like I forgot something very important at home, and I need to get it, but I don’t know what it is!” He clasps at his hair as he sits down again, so distressed his muscles seem to be bulging on his arms.

“Maybe we should send him to the gym, that might be his home,” Hyungwon mutters lowly to Minhyuk and Minhyuk hits his arm that he almost fell off his seat. “Ow!”

“That was really mean, wasn’t it, Changkyun?” Minhyuk asks Changkyun and Changkyun shrugs, hiding a smile into Minhyuk who coos at him.

“Well, if not the gym then maybe he lives in a fridge—ow! Minhyuk!”

Hoseok just watches them in confusion since he couldn’t hear them whispering in the beginning. “You think I forgot my fridge at home?”

“No,” Hyungwon retorts, pouting as he rubs his hurting arm. Minhyuk won’t kiss this boo-boo better.

“Or maybe…” Minhyuk suddenly speaks up, staring at nothing while everyone in the kitchen stare at him expectantly. He looks at the fridge. “Hyungwon… what were you doing looking into the fridge at night?”

Hyungwon shrugs. “Looking for snacks or leftovers really.”

“But we were out.”

Hyungwon’s heart picks up its pace, at these connections they’re making. “So we need to get groceries,” he quickly says, taking Minhyuk’s phone, and opening up the map again. “Hoseok, tell me what else you remember, any colors?”

He’s then typing into the phone. He reads over the information on the phone quickly.

“Uh, very bright, green, and blue?” Hoseok offers.

Hyungwon types and types, zooming into the map and showing Hoseok and Minhyuk the map. Changkyun peeks curiously at it too.

“This neighborhood,” he tells them. “That’s the grocery store nearby, their neon signs are green and blue, there’s that playground. It might not be it, but it might be it too.”

He taps for street view, looking for trees.

“Do you recognize these trees, Hoseok?”

Hoseok nods.

“That’s amazing, Hyungwon!” Minhyuk trails after him as he walks into their bedroom. “How did you figure out where it is?”

Hyungwon just gives him a small smile, as Minhyuk puts on his tie for him. “A lucky guess.”

“A lead anyway!”

Hyungwon gets ready for work, a little concerned he’s going to leave Minhyuk at the house alone with two ghosts now.

Hoseok’s whining about something when they get out into the living room. “Changkyun just hit me!” He complains to Minhyuk, and Minhyuk just laughs as Changkyun runs to him, arms outstretched to have Minhyuk pick him up into his arms.

“ _Did you_?” Minhyuk asks him scandalously, and Changkyun shakes his head. Minhyuk just brushes his hair back, turning to Hyungwon and Hoseok. “Anyway, should we check out the neighborhood this weekend?” He bounces the boy in his arms. “Let’s go out for a drive with Hyungwon! That’s exciting, isn’t it?”

“But, honey, it’s our date day,” Hyungwon tells him in a low voice so Hoseok won’t hear them, remembering that they promised to spend the whole day just by the two of them, no talk of work, or anything else. That is, before he found out he’d have to deal with ghosts. “We promised we’d watch that new movie and have dinner at that one restaurant, remember?”

Minhyuk blinks, seemingly only just remembering it. “Oh, but we have to send Hoseok home, it will take a while if we just let him walk since it’s on the outskirts of town.”

“Yeah, but I made that reservation at the restaurant.”

“Well, we’ll make another one, some other time.”

“Minhyuk,” Hyungwon sighs sadly, imploring.

“Hey,” Minhyuk pulls him closer by grabbing at his shirt at the chest, balancing a little boy in one arm almost too skillfully. “We can have our date days anytime we want. Skipping this one shouldn’t be a problem,” he whispers, and kisses Hyungwon on the cheek. “Now go to work. You’re gonna be late.” He pats Hyungwon on the chest, signalling for him to leave.

And Hyungwon watches Changkyun secretly throwing a crayon piece at Hoseok before he leaves.

There’s not a time in Hyungwon’s life, that he would have expected he’d be in this kind of circumstance. 

To be driving his car with Minhyuk, and two ghosts.

Hoseok took the front seat, since Minhyuk wanted to sit with Changkyun in the back, and he’s showing Changkyun some silly videos on his phone. Instead of the usual radio or their playlists, there’s just the sound of kid’s songs blaring through the speaker, and Hoseok’s nodding to it.

“Seem familiar?” He asks Hoseok, a little grumpy the whole day because it was supposed to be date day, and Minhyuk’s so preoccupied with Changkyun he didn’t notice Hyungwon sulking at all.

“Yeah,” Hoseok looks out the window, at the trees. And his voice lowers. “Very familiar.”

Hyungwon looks at him almost worriedly, and Hoseok actually looks sad. Hoseok notices, and manages a small laugh for him.

“I just feel a little…” He clutches at his chest. “Suffocated, for some reason.”

Hyungwon looks at the ring on his finger, says nothing.

“Look at that, there’s a plane in the sky,” Minhyuk says excitedly in the back, him and Changkyun peering out the window. True enough, a plane is passing by.

Changkyun’s watching it passing in awe, eyes gleaming.

Hyungwon watches from the side mirror as the boy puts his hands on the glass, eyes trailing after the plane while Minhyuk’s wondering along with Changkyun. _Where is the plane going? There must be a lot of people on the plane!_

He parks at a curb, and when they got out, they’re looking around at the houses. Hoseok still seems a little lost.

“Maybe we should walk around, see if you remember your home?” Hyungwon suggests, pocketing his car keys.

Minhyuk takes Changkyun’s hand, commenting on the things they see around; the little dog houses, the dogs and the puppies they see at the windows. Probably wondering why the humans are walking with the ghosts. Changkyun listens intently to him, blinking at things.

Hyungwon slows down to let Minhyuk catch up to him. “Hey, maybe we can go watch the movie tomorrow instead. I mean, we have no reservation at the restaurant anymore, but maybe the usual diner would be open?”

Minhyuk looks at him, and manages a small apologetic smile. “We can’t just leave Changkyun at home,” he whispers, not wanting Changkyun to eavesdrop and Hyungwon leans down to hear him better.

“Well, we’ll bring him with us then, he won’t need a ticket, does he?”

Minhyuk pushes at him slightly, amused, but his expression turns serious again. “I don’t want him watching people shoot each other in the movie, Hyungwon. Violence is bad for the children.”

Hyungwon sighs, knowing there’s no way around it before he notices Hoseok’s not walking with them anymore. “Where’d Hoseok go?” He asks, turning around and they find him staring at a house.

They walk to him, looking at the house too.

“Is this it?” Hyungwon asks, a little breathless because if this is it, then he can safely state he’d returned a ghost home as one of his accomplishments in life.

“Yeah,” Hoseok answers, and his voice breaks. He’s actually holding back his tears.

“Well, go in there and you might remember what you’ve forgotten.” Minhyuk tells him.

Hoseok takes a deep breath, and he would have taken a step towards the house if it weren't for the door opening with a young man emerging from the house, walking outside.

He’s carrying a trash bag, scowling as he approaches the trash can. He throws the bag into it once he has the lid up, still frowning.

“Oh,” Minhyuk whispers, placing a hand on Hyungwon’s shoulder as they just watch the young man across the street.

The man notices them, but doesn’t spare them as much as a glance, already walking back into the house, rubbing the back of his neck.

“Hoseok left his fiancé,” Minhyuk says softly, and sadly, staring at the glinting ring on the man’s finger.

Hoseok didn’t want to go in.

He’s shaking when he’s realized what it is that he’s forgotten at home. What— _who_ has gotten him so desperate to come back home, who was so important yet he forgets once he’s passed.

“ _It’s Kihyun_ ,” he’s said as Minhyuk and Hyungwon took him away from the house, hands trembling so hard that his engagement ring gleamed under the afternoon sun. “ _It’s Kihyun, and does he know I—How is he—Oh god._ ”

And now he’s sitting on a bench at the playground, with Minhyuk patting his shoulder, consoling.

Hyungwon watches Hoseok’s shoulders shaking from where he stands. Trusting Minhyuk to be more experienced in dealing with this. Changkyun walks away to sit on the swing once he's bored of watching, probably not understanding the gravity of the situation they’re in now.

What Hyungwon would do to have that pure, innocent ignorance.

Minhyuk gestures for Hyungwon to look after Changkyun while Hoseok buries his face into his hands, just blubbering out incoherent sadness. So hesitantly, Hyungwon leaves the two to look after the kid.

It’s a rather quiet neighborhood, Hyungwon finds. Just like their own. He wonders where the kids are at a time like this, as he looks over at Changkyun who’s just sitting there, staring ahead of him. At Hyungwon’s husband trying to console a ghost in the playground.

He just stares and stares, with a blank expression like he understands but at the same time doesn’t either. Hyungwon can’t tell.

Changkyun’s hair sways with the breeze, a little messy. It makes Hyungwon want to comb it over, smoothen it. Hyungwon doesn’t know how a wind could touch him, and he could not.

But he reaches out a hand anyway, and still, he could feel nothing there even if he could see the boy clearly. Looking down at his hand, he doesn’t know what he had expected.

Changkyun looks up at him over his shoulder, little legs swinging a little.

“Do you want me to push you?” Hyungwon asks.

Changkyun just blinks at him, and nods slightly.

“Okay.” Hyungwon pushes the swing by its chains, never letting his eyes off from the way Hoseok crumbles at the playground, the sky turning grey once the cloud covers the sun.

The sobbing and whimpering is audible even from the distance.

People stare at Hyungwon when they pass by, wondering why he’s pushing an empty swing in such a quiet playground.

Minhyuk takes something out of his coat, and hands it to Hoseok. They talk about something, but Hyungwon can’t make out any words from their murmuring.

Hoseok then nods at him, a small notebook and a pen in his hands, and Minhyuk watches as he starts writing on the paper.

Changkyun is still staring at the two too, silently, the chains creaking a little with every push.

Hoseok pauses every now and then, to wipe at his neverending tears and think over his words, and Minhyuk leaves him to go to Hyungwon.

“I made him write a letter to his fiancé,” Minhyuk tells Hyungwon. “And maybe we can just leave it at the house for his fiancé to read or something.”

Changkyun hops off the swing. Minhyuk ruffles his hair before he runs to the other side of the playground, looking at the stones on the ground.

“How is… Hoseok?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk shrugs. “He’s pretty shocked.”

Hyungwon gives Minhyuk a little smile. He doesn’t know what to say. It hurts to see how much it hurts for Hoseok obviously, but he doesn’t think he wants to even imagine what it’s like to be in Hoseok’s shoes. Grief surprises and shocks, Hyungwon might understand how it works—it works with loss and mourning—but he doesn’t think he’ll ever truly understand how it will never fail to leave a fresh wound no matter how many times one experiences it in their lives.

“I’ve never met a ghost who… has died a sudden death like this.” Minhyuk confesses, lowering his gaze on the ground. He checks on Changkyun with his eyes. Hyungwon does too.

The boy’s picking up some stones, scrutinizing them, putting them into his pocket.

“It’s sad, isn’t it?” Minhyuk chuckles to lighten the atmosphere. “To leave something when you didn’t even plan to leave? Who would have thought you have to leave your loved ones so suddenly just because fate says so?”

Hyungwon nods, putting his hands into the pockets of his coat, wondering if it’s going to rain soon what with the grey clouds. He hopes not.

Minhyuk sighs, resting his head on Hyungwon’s shoulder, so Hyungwon wraps an arm around his shoulders.

“Should we just leave it at the doorstep?” Hyungwon asks, the letter Hoseok have written—neatly folded—in his hand.

They’re all huddled in front of the house.

Hoseok, with his puffy eyes, look at him and Minhyuk.

“What if the wind blows them away by the time he opens the door?” Minhyuk asks worriedly, chewing on his lower lip.

“We’ll put it in the mailbox then?”

“He doesn’t check the mailbox often,” Hoseok butts in, and when the husbands look at him he scratches at his neck sheepishly. “That, I remember. It was kind of my responsibility.”

Minhyuk nods. “So even if he does, it might be days after.” He then purses his lips. “Let’s just ring the bell.”

“Okay, but where do we leave this?” Hyungwon asks, not noticing that Changkyun has rung the bell at Minhyuk’s command.

And before they even knew it, the door opens, revealing a very confused young man, who blinks at the two uninvited guests.

“Can I help you?” The man they know goes by the name Kihyun asks almost sternly, eyebrows knitting as his eyes went back and forth between Minhyuk and Hyungwon.

He looks tired, was the first thing on Hyungwon’s mind. Hair a little unkempt. Dark circles and eyebags and all.

“We are um—” Minhyuk nudges at Hyungwon, and Hyungwon stands straighter, hiding the letter behind him as he wracks his brain on what to tell the man.

“Would you um—” Hyungwon clears his throat, “Would like to talk about our lor—!” He chokes when Minhyuk elbows at his stomach and faking a laugh to cover up Hyungwon’s stupid cover up.

“We’re from the fridge company and we were wondering if your fridge is working properly?” Minhyuk quickly asks.

Kihyun looks at them, suspicious.

Hyungwon is half expecting him to shut the door and call the police, but strangely, he opens the door a little wider.

“Thank god, finally, the fridge is experiencing some trouble,” he mutters, gesturing for them to come in.

Hyungwon clutches at his stomach at the open door, “that hurts!” He hisses at Minhyuk.

Minhyuk just looks at him apologetically, before Hoseok walks past them, entering the house quietly.

They watch the ghost walking in, trailing after Kihyun.

“Come on,” Minhyuk grabs Hyungwon’s and Changkyun’s hands, leading the way into the house.

The walls, they find, are filled with framed photographs of Hoseok and Kihyun. The other smiling people in the photos must be their family and friends. Hyungwon finds himself feeling strangely envious of a particular photo of Hoseok and Kihyun accompanied by—judging by the matching bright smiles—people who seemed to be their parents on a beach. They had scrawled the date the photo was taken on the sand. It was last summer.

“The fridge hasn’t been working properly this past week,” Kihyun tells them, leading the way into the kitchen. “I’ve called your company a few times, but they didn’t tell me the men are dropping by so soon.”

“He can’t see me,” Hoseok tells them desperately, hovering over Kihyun’s shoulder as Kihyun opens the door of the fridge, pointing out the light that doesn’t come on. “Guys, he can’t see me, he can’t hear me!”

Hyungwon doesn’t know what to say, because Kihyun turns to him, sighing wearily.

“Don’t you have tools for this?” He asks the two guests, eyeing their empty hands.

“Kihyun, please, I’m right here!” Hoseok begs Kihyun but Kihyun just blinks at Hyungwon and Minhyuk.

“It’s in our van,” Minhyuk answers, pushing the fridge door close. “How long has this been going on?”

“Tell him I’m right here,” Hoseok walks to Minhyuk, but Minhyuk doesn’t look at him. “Please, if you would just tell him I’m here.”

“I don’t know,” Kihyun sighs, taking a seat on the kitchen stool.

Hyungwon doesn’t know what to do, Hoseok’s crying now, tears just streaming down his face.

“ _Minhyuk, please tell him I’m right here_.”

“I didn’t keep track of time,” Kihyun pinches the bridge of his nose, restless. “I guess it’s been—I don’t know, two weeks? Is that how long since he left— _I don’t know_.”

And he rubs his face with both of his hands, face scrunching painfully at the thought of the dysfunctional fridge.

“It just stopped working properly after Hoseok left,” he suddenly says, and the tears fill his eyes. And he wants to speak, but no words come out. He doesn’t cry. He goes on. Albeit with difficulties. “My fiancé—he left and then the fridge just decided to stop working.”

“And it’s been two weeks since he left?” Minhyuk asks.

Kihyun nods, averting their eyes on him.

“Where did he go?”

Kihyun almost glares at Minhyuk. “Why are you asking me this?”

Minhyuk takes a step back, Changkyun hides behind him.

“I was just…” Minhyuk couldn’t find an explanation.

“Tell him I meant to come home right away,” Hoseok tells Minhyuk through his tears.

“He went to get fucking grocery,” Kihyun answers instead, jumping to his feet and opening the fridge again. It’s empty. He must have emptied it out when he realized it wasn’t working. And he takes a deep breath, his whole body shaking. “Went to the store and never came back!”

He slams the door shut, chest heaving.

“That fucking asshole!” He screams, face red with fury that Hyungwon has half the mind to cover Changkyun's ears if it wasn't for his inability to do so. “And now the fridge doesn’t work! I told him to stop checking the fridge even when he knows there is nothing in there! And now it’s _broken_!”

He kicks at the fridge, the huge kitchen appliance shaking and Minhyuk flinches. Hyungwon wants to grab his hand, they should get out of the house now, he’ll leave the letter somewhere for Kihyun to find.

But Minhyuk just stands there, watching as Hoseok tries to touch his fuming fiancé.

“I’m sorry, oh, Kihyun, I’m an idiot,” Hoseok blabbers through his tears, yet Kihyun doesn’t hear him. And Hoseok’s hands are going through his shoulders, all his efforts are futile.

“Wish he never proposed to me if he’s just going to die like that!” Kihyun screams in the kitchen, taking off his engagement ring and throwing it into the sink.

The ring clatters in the silence that follows, and Minhyuk turns to Hyungwon as Kihyun continues to seeth in the anger of being left alone.

Hoseok stares into the sink in shock now.

And despite the raging anger in Kihyun that has him shaking in the kitchen, they all could see he was just extremely devastated over the past weeks. The house is messy, he looks tired, and it was easy to see how lively the home must have been just a few weeks before.

Minhyuk puts out a hand towards Hyungwon.

Swallowing a lump in his throat, Hyungwon gives him the letter.

“Kihyun,” Minhyuk starts, gently picking up the ring again.

Kihyun looks at him almost confusedly at the call of his name.

“I don’t think we can repair that fridge now,” Minhyuk continues. “Doesn’t seem like the situation would allow it.”

He laughs a little, awkward, and Kihyun just stares at him.

“But we have this letter here,” Minhyuk puts out his hand, with the letter and the ring. “We think this would be much more useful right now instead.”

“ _What_?” Kihyun almost laughs at the ridiculousness of the situation.

Minhyuk still holds out his hand, urging him to take them.

Kihyun eyes him warily, but takes them anyway.

“We hope your fridge gets fixed soon,” Minhyuk tells him, quickly taking Hyungwon’s hand and pulling him along to the door.

Kihyun doesn’t answer, because he’s unfolding the papers at the kitchen counter, Hyungwon sees on his way out.

And Hoseok reads it for him over his shoulder, and Kihyun trembles in the kitchen.

“You idiot,” he hears Kihyun sobs out, finally crying, as Minhyuk shuts the door close.

“Are we just leaving Hoseok here?” Hyungwon asks out in the cold again, confused as Minhyuk leads the way through the front yard, Changkyun skipping along.

“Yeah, it’s his home.” Minhyuk simply answers.

“What’s going to happen then?” 

Minhyuk looks at him, slightly out of breath as he slows down a little at the sight of their car. “He’ll move on.”

Hyungwon catches up to him. “How does he do that?”

“He’ll just fade as usual,” Minhyuk mutters. “But this time he won’t be coming back.”

They stopped by at a pizza place for dinner, ordering one regular sized pizza.

Minhyuk barely eats under the neon lights, having trouble finishing one slice, but he still takes another. Probably not wanting Hyungwon to worry, but he should know Hyungwon sees through it anyway.

Changkyun’s playing with a toy Minhyuk bought him from the shop outside, when they caught Changkyun staring at it while people walk through him unknowingly. It’s a plastic dog with a spring that connects its front and rear. Changkyun stretches it in his little hands, quiet.

“Hey, Hyungwon?” Minhyuk calls, wiping his mouth with a napkin. His second slice is half eaten on his plate. 

Hyungwon raises his eyebrows at him. Calling a waiter to pack their unfinished pizza since it’s late already.

“If one of us were to die early, is it okay if you die first?”

Hyungwon lets out a chuckle of surprise. “Why would you ask that?”

Minhyuk smiles, it’s heavy, but he looks so hopeful in the pizza place. “At least I’d be able to see you for the last time, and say a proper goodbye.”

The other nods understandingly. That makes sense.

“If I go first,” Minhyuk inhales, thoughtful. “Who knows if you’d see me? Or hear me?”

“Okay,” Hyungwon tells him, reaching for his hand on the table. “I’ll die before you do.”

“Thanks,” Minhyuk smiles at him gratefully, squeezing his hand and then turning to Changkyun to pick the boy up. “Let’s go now, it’s been a long day.”

And the long drive home was filled with the sound of kid’s songs playing through the speaker, Hyungwon checking on Minhyuk in the backseat with Changkyun wrapped tightly in his arms through the rearview mirror, watching them trying to see if the moon follows them home.

Changkyun runs into the living room as soon as Hyungwon has unlocked the door, and quickly taking out the stones he’d collected from the playground.

Minhyuk shuffles to the boy, wrapping his arms loosely around the boy as he sits down on the floor. “Those are really pretty stones you’ve collected,” he muses, looking through them. But Changkyun pulls his arms off of him, gets up without a word after, and before Minhyuk can say anything he walks off and fades into nothing.

Minhyuk sighs.

He notices Hyungwon approaching him, giving his husband a smile as he gets up onto his feet again. 

“We should clean the stones first if he’s thinking of keeping them,” Minhyuk tells him when he finds Hyungwon staring at the stones scattered on the floor. The pebbles from before were stacked in the yard, Hyungwon has seen. He doesn’t know what the kid has planned for his collections.

Hyungwon shrugs, he doesn’t mind. Instead, he walks to Minhyuk, cupping his shoulders. “You doing fine?” He asks.

Minhyuk nods, chuckling a little. He does look a little tired, they spent the whole day with two ghosts after all. Even Hyungwon feels his body aching from weariness a little. It feels like he has worked for one week straight without rest.

“Cause that conversation back at the pizza place was a little dark.”

“Hyungwon, everyone dies at some point,” Minhyuk breathes out. “It’s just that—”

“Hoseok and his fiancé got you thinking.” Hyungwon finishes for him.

He nods. Doesn’t look at Hyungwon. They’re silent for the longest time, before Minhyuk wraps his arms around Hyungwon, hiding his face into Hyungwon’s shoulder. Minhyuk inhales his scent—said it calms him down on several anxiety ridden situations— just letting himself relax in Hyungwon’s embrace.

“How did you find Hoseok’s house?” He asks.

Hyungwon sighs. “I searched the news.”

“Oh.”

“I saw his ring, and—I just assumed it was a sudden death. And true enough, it was on the news. He fit the descriptions.”

“What was it?”

“A hit and run.”

“Oh,” Minhyuk murmurs, sadly this time. “I knew you didn’t figure it out from the mere colors blue and green.”

Hyungwon laughs drily. “I didn’t know how to tell Hoseok the news.”

“Figured you’d let him remember it himself instead?”

Hyungwon shrugs, he didn’t know what he’d do actually. He figured the most important thing was to send Hoseok home, but Kihyun couldn’t see him, and it was unfair that Hoseok didn’t get to say a proper goodbye to his fiancé.

It occurred to him that like all ghost stories, the ghosts must be roaming the world after their death because they haven’t had an important closure in their life. Hoseok needed to tell his fiancé he loves him one last time. And Hyungwon wonders what is Changkyun, a 4 year old’s closure? What would it be? What would a life of 4 years leaves unresolved? 

Minhyuk moves to cup his face with both of his hands, and Hyungwon stares into his eyes with his round, fond ones. His palms are so warm and soft against Hyungwon’s cheeks that all his previous thoughts are washed away to focus on the one in front of him. “You won’t leave me anytime soon, would you?”

Hyungwon’s shoulders slump down. Just the thought is so dreadful it pulls at his heart. “No.”

Minhyuk nods, satisfied. Letting him go and then bending down to pick up the stones on the floor. Hyungwon watches him clean each stones in the sink, and wrapping them all in a towel, bringing it into the room at the end of the hallway.

It’s a pretty empty room, saved for a bookshelf, the small table and a long chair. They read in the room sometimes, exchanging new books, or just playing some boardgames for two.

Minhyuk places the stones on the small coffee table there, the stones wet and gleaming on the white towel.

They don’t fill or decorate the room because they wanted to keep it ready. Ready to be refurbished should the occasion comes.

But it doesn’t come, Hyungwon realized. It hasn’t come no matter how long they wait.

“Minhyuk,” he calls his husband as Minhyuk was about to close the door and head to their bedroom. And they are going to sleep on that same bed, like every other day. Same routine. Never changing. 

Minhyuk looks up at him questioningly.

“Why wouldn’t you ask me if my connections got back to me?”

“What do you mean?” Minhyuk frowns a little, closing the door and they stand in the dark hallway.

“Why won’t you ask me if I got updates on where Changkyun’s home is?”

Minhyuk immediately lowers his head, taking a step back. “Well, did you?”

“Yeah,” Hyungwon takes out his phone, opening up an email he’s gotten from Hyunwoo. He shows it to Minhyuk, but Minhyuk doesn’t even look at it, just pushes at his hand to dismiss it.

“That’s great,” Minhyuk manages, trying to leave but Hyungwon pulls at his hand, holds him there.

“What are you trying to do here?”

He doesn’t answer, so Hyungwon coaxes for him to look up with a hand on the side of his neck, to look at his own husband and pleads for him to speak. 

Minhyuk takes a deep breath, wanting to look away but he’s unable to, not when Hyungwon’s staring at him earnestly. Asking for him to spill.

It isn’t hard to read Minhyuk when they have known each other for years. And it isn’t hard to understand what it is playing in Minhyuk’s head either. But he wants Minhyuk to say it out loud.

Listen to how irrational his ideas could be.

“Hyungwon.” Minhyuk breaks easily, his tone pleading. “ _He’s right there_.”

Hyungwon shakes his head gently.

“He’s right _here_ ,” Minhyuk goes on again.

“He’s not,” Hyungwon tells him, because Changkyun has walked off and disappeared, as he always does. But right now he’s not there in that house.

“Listen to me,” Minhyuk takes the hand on his neck, holding it tightly, and his wedding ring gleams even in the dark. “He came here the first time and he keeps coming back.”

“That’s because only you could see and speak to him.”

“And he lets me brush his hair and hold him—” Hyungwon shakes his head when Minhyuk’s eyes pool with tears; Minhyuk’s not even listening to him. “Hyungwon, you don’t understand, he lets me _hold him in my arms_ and I just—I just feel content for the first time in a while—”

“But he renders you tired and you get those migraines—”

“Hyungwon, _come on_. He’s well behaved, he’s quiet, just like _you_ ,” He brushes at Hyungwon’s cheek, smiling imploringly. “And he’s gotten so comfortable with us and I am too.”

“But he’s a _ghost_.”

That renders Minhyuk quiet as Minhyuk just takes a deep shaky breath, seen it coming.

Yet he still shakes his head in denial, lips trembling. “Remember what you said? A self-cleaning kid! How about that?” He laughs a little, but his voice breaks. “And we don’t have to deal with other tedious things cause sometimes he just runs off for a while—but he comes back.”

Hyungwon pulls Minhyuk into his arms even as Minhyuk laughs brokenly, bitterly, ironically.

“Hyungwon, he comes back _home_.”

“Minhyuk this _isn’t_ his home,” Hyungwon finally tells him, as Minhyuk’s body shakes and he’s fisting at Hyungwon’s sweater in retaliation, because the wait is too long.

He doesn’t know if they have gotten tired of waiting, or if the world is just getting tired of these two people like them. Because they get a notice their applications were just left in the waiting list, and the people deemed their lifestyle isn’t appropriate to raise a child, Minhyuk travels too much for his work. It isn’t a solid excuse, but people adds up to it by asking them how are they going to take in children with no maternal influence in their upbringing. Hyungwon doesn’t know what it means, Minhyuk doesn’t either.

And it made them angry, calling all the people they know, lawyers, social workers. Just anything, anyone to plead for the world to let them have a chance to raise one of their own. Even in the absence of blood ties, and that doesn’t matter. Should not have mattered in the first place, when they’re always ready to open their home to a new life that they can take care of.

But the world doesn’t believe in that.

Just because they get to put rings on each other’s fingers, doesn’t mean the world would make it easy for them to have a child in their arms too.

“He’s someone else’s son,” Hyungwon explains to Minhyuk. “He has his own family.”

He holds Minhyuk tighter, like the time they come home after having told that they were just not what prospective mothers putting up their child for adoption are looking for. They just aren’t the perfect picture people would imagine to be a family, let alone a family to raise children, apparently.

“He has his own parents.”

“Don’t you want kids? Didn’t you say you really wanted kids too?” Minhyuk finally asks, his voice low and choking up, desperate with all the yearning he has stored inside himself for too long.

“Honey, you know I do, but he’s not _ours_ ,” Hyungwon says firmly, because he has to. “And we have to return him to his home, to his parents.”

Minhyuk shakes his head, he doesn’t want to listen anymore, but he has to.

“And what are we going to do?” Hyungwon asks him. “Raise a 4 year old all our lives? A 4 year old no one else can see?”

It undeniably hurts to say it out loud because he understands how Minhyuk feels so well, but he knows he won’t make Minhyuk take the responsibility of turning down a dream, a little hope. He’ll do it for both of them. Even if it leaves himself feeling worse after. And if it makes Minhyuk resent him at this moment, then so be it.

And Minhyuk doesn’t answer or respond, he keeps on hiding in Hyungwon’s arms.

“That’s not it, Minhyuk,” Hyungwon sighs heavily. “It doesn’t work like that.”

And Minhyuk knows that, understands the irrationality of raising a ghost child because he doesn’t come up with anything else against it, just sighs sadly into Hyungwon’s sweater.

“I’m so tired, Hyungwon.” 

His fingers are clutching at Hyungwon’s sweater, angry, defeated, and longing all at once. Truthfully, Hyungwon doesn’t know how long he could hold on. But he promised himself he’d do whatever it takes to keep Minhyuk together. He’s all Hyungwon has got. If they couldn’t have another one to welcome in their home then he’s going to hold on to Minhyuk with everything he has. He’ll give it all for this person he’s married, even when Minhyuk (and him) has to acknowledge the world won’t _ever_ give you the chance to have it all.

Hyungwon’s rubbing his back in an attempt to comfort and kisses him on his forehead, feels the weight of the life they never had on his shoulders. 

“I’m just so tired,” Minhyuk repeats.

He assures Minhyuk, “I _know_.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi! Itd be nice if yall leave your thoughts and feedback! I would love to read them! :'))
> 
> Find me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/eatramyeon) or [curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/eatramyeon)!


	2. Chapter 2

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> i wanted to update this earlier but due to personal reasons it was delayed :'(( and please remember that because this story is about ghosts, death is involved but nothing that would warrant an archive warning. I will put it in the tags too. Anyway, please enjoy!!

It has gotten dark earlier recently.

Minhyuk’s home by the time Hyungwon’s returned after work. He’s sipping on a cup of coffee, and there are documents scattered on the kitchen counter.

“You’re early,” Hyungwon states, passing him by with a quick, loud kiss on the top of his head then pouring himself a cup of coffee. Out of the two, Minhyuk’s the one who always comes home late, always absorbed in his work. “How was work? I imagined there’d be a lot of things for you to do since you’ve missed a week of work.” 

“Yeah,” Minhyuk sighs, glancing up from a document. “I figured I’d just bring all the manuscripts home though.”

Hyungwon blinks, leaning against the sink. “You’re working from home?”

“Yeah,” Minhyuk answers nonchalantly.

“And your boss is okay with that?”

“Yeah.”

Hyungwon stares at him, and Minhyuk doesn’t seem to notice, or maybe he’s just ignoring his husband as he keeps on reading the manuscript in front of him.

“Where’s Changkyun?” Hyungwon asks after a minute.

Minhyuk doesn’t look up at him. “He disappeared earlier in the afternoon.”

“Oh.”

And they have dinner with just the two of them. It’s quiet in the house, there is no rain.

When they were going to their bedroom though, Hyungwon notices shopping bags in the living room, and he realizes they’re filled with toys.

“When did you get these?” He asks Minhyuk, looking through the bags.

“Oh, I stopped by the toy store after picking up the manuscripts from the office,” Minhyuk tells him, smiling at the rubber frog Hyungwon squeezing in his hand. It makes a sharp squeaking sound that Hyungwon immediately cringes a little, but Minhyuk just rubs a hand down his arm to calm him down. “Changkyun likes them.”

Hyungwon sighs, putting the frog back to inspect a superhero figure. “Of course he does.”

Minhyuk frowns a little at the response.

“Why would you spend so much just for toys?” Hyungwon points out, confused more than exasperated. Somewhere in the marriage they had agreed to not spend too much without the other’s approval. Minhyuk had gone crazy with his beauty products one time and Hyungwon doesn’t remember how that went, because they went home with bags of those products anyway. “Besides, the kid would probably just break them in a day.” 

Minhyuk pouts.

“I’m just saying that they’re toys and you should—”

Minhyuk sighs with his pouty face.

“Well.” Hyungwon puts the toy back into the bag. “I guess, Changkyun would have fun playing with them.”

Minhyuk chuckles, pecking him on the cheek before leaving for the bedroom.

And Hyungwon blinks. _Wait, what just happened?_

They take turns washing up as usual, just talking about nothing after as Minhyuk starts his routine at the dresser. There is that new restaurant downtown that Hyungwon thinks they should check out soon. Minhyuk says sure—he’s slapping moisturizer on Hyungwon’s face again. Hyungwon asks if he wants to watch that movie they have been planning to watch on the weekend in between the slapping, and Minhyuk says sure again, albeit a little less enthusiastically than he had been the first time they have planned to do the same thing. 

It reminded Hyungwon how he was more excited to cancel the plan before. They overslept last Sunday— sending Hoseok home had taken so much of their energy— and Minhyuk would rather spend the empty day to go get groceries, push the cart around the store with Changkyun sitting in the small seat, swinging his short, little legs.

Minhyuk ends the skincare routine with thumbs brushing at Hyungwon’s eyebrows and pinching his cheeks.

Hyungwon doesn’t point it out though, the jarring difference between Minhyuk’s responses; just relieved that they’d have their date day. Completely ignoring the fact that it was postponed twice already. It would just be nice to do things together and forget about work.

It’s something he finds worthy to point out instead. “Can’t wait for the weekend,” he tells Minhyuk as Minhyuk sits next to him on the bed, rubbing lotion on his arms for him. “Just the two of us, on a date.”

Minhyuk smiles at him, rubbing his hands together to let the lotion on his skin dry. It’s the one that smells like flowers. Hyungwon likes it. “What are you talking about? We always go on dates.”

Hyungwon shrugs, scooting closer. “I know, but it doesn’t mean I enjoy them less. It’s always worth it, _at the end of the day_.”

He places both hands at Minhyuk’s sides.

And Minhyuk chuckles knowingly, blushing a little as Hyungwon nears him.

The knowledge that he still has such an effect on Minhyuk makes him grin, especially at the sight of Minhyuk who couldn’t look at him in the eyes with that red flush growing on his face. 

And he was about to say it has been a while before Minhyuk just shoves him away with zero hesitation.

“Changkyun!” Minhyuk exclaims, quickly scurrying to the door where Hyungwon finds Changkyun is standing, confused.

Minhyuk’s quick to scoop the boy up into his arms, bouncing him around happily. 

“Do you want to play with your toys?” He asks the boy excitedly, already walking out of the bedroom, Hyungwon forgotten on the bed.

It left Hyungwon just staring at the open door, strangely alone in the bedroom when one second ago he was pretty sure he’s gotten Minhyuk to stay on the bed for the rest of the night.

Hyungwon sighs, lying back on the bed. He’s never felt so neglected like this.

And Minhyuk was the one who used to pester him to meet up when they were dating. Said he missed Hyungwon even after a second of being away. Clingy and always in Hyungwon’s face with his affections that it was Hyungwon who was dubbed as cold for not returning it at times. Hyungwon doesn’t know where that Minhyuk went. Marriage does things, he supposes.

When he walks out of the bedroom later, Minhyuk and Changkyun are on the couch, and Minhyuk’s reading him a storybook with an animated voice. He notices Hyungwon watching them, glancing up as he flipped the pages gently. Giving Hyungwon a soft smile that Hyungwon knows is worth so much.

Worth the fact that Minhyuk had shoved him away on the bed just now.

Changkyun’s looking at the illustrations on the glossy pages intently, running his small fingers on the creatures depicted, fascinated.

Hyungwon takes a seat next to Minhyuk, sees the crown of Changkyun’s head. And the boy is snug in his husband’s arms, hands fidgeting with his rubber frog now as Minhyuk tells them a story about how the little boy on his adventure fell into the sea and found himself surrounded by giant fishes.

Hyungwon makes himself comfortable too, thinking back to how Minhyuk used to read him poetries back in college. Tucked in the corner of the wall on Hyungwon’s bed. It was finals. Minhyuk didn’t know what else to do. Hyungwon had textbooks opened on his desk, forgotten.

“What do you think will happen?” Minhyuk asks Changkyun in a soft voice, refusing to flip to the next page.

And Changkyun’s squirming in his arms, kicking his legs slightly in his impatient curiosity. “The whale,” He just says, and his voice is low, barely heard.

Minhyuk chuckles, flipping to the next page where the whale swallows the boy in the blue ocean, unknowingly taking the boy into safety.

Hyungwon grows sleepy at Minhyuk’s voice, always soothed by the familiar tone and scent as he hooks his chin on the other’s shoulder.

And Changkyun giggles quietly at Minhyuk’s imitation of a whale, that Hyungwon holds him tight on the couch. If he cannot hold Changkyun then at least he gets to hold Minhyuk.

“Fascinating,” Hyungwon whispers with a small smile.

Minhyuk cranes his neck to look at him. “Fascinating,” he repeats, kissing Hyungwon.

Hyungwon stays smiling as he closes his eyes to the story of refuge within the mouth of a giant mammal in the sea.

“That’ll be quite a journey,” Minhyuk mutters, looking down at the map on Hyungwon’s phone. They’re looking at a town at the far end of their country land, near the sea.

Minhyuk’s nursing a cup of coffee in the kitchen, Hyungwon thinks he stayed up waiting for Changkyun to disappear as usual.

Hyungwon on the other hand, fell asleep before the bedtime story even ended.

“We don’t have the exact address though, they said the town underwent major redevelopment these past few years,” Hyungwon sighs. He was informed Changkyun’s father was a scientist at a nearby research center back in the days, but all they got was an old address that probably doesn't exist anymore. 

His friend Hyunwoo couldn’t offer him more information, it was already difficult to dig around the registry just to look for information from 20 years ago. He also ended the latest email he sent Hyungwon saying he should come to his daughter’s birthday party instead, and to make sure he brings Minhyuk along because his little girl loves Minhyuk.

“Well, it’s worth the try to go there anyway, right?” Minhyuk looks up at him.

Hyungwon nods. “We can ask the people around there then.”

Minhyuk just drinks his coffee in the silence. He looks down at his hand when Hyungwon reaches for it, holding onto it firmly.

“Are you okay with that?” Hyungwon asks, slightly worried.

Minhyuk hasn’t said anything after they sent Hoseok back. After Hyungwon made it clear that the very idea swimming in his mind was irrational and would never work; taking care of a ghost, someone else’s child. Minhyuk seems to have slowly understood and listened to him. While he never speaks about it, Hyungwon knows it’s hard for him to accept that, but with this, he knows Minhyuk has surrendered to sending Changkyun back to his home. Hyungwon also knows Minhyuk’s glad Hyungwon is there to keep him grounded, because when they went to sleep that night Minhyuk had held him like he might float away to the inconceivable dream and life if he lets go.

Sometimes the rational thing hurts, but it has to, so Hyungwon had held him tightly in return.

Minhyuk opens his hand for Hyungwon, smiling slightly. “Yeah, sure.”

“Should we go this weekend then?” Hyungwon asks, rubbing his thumb against the back of Minhyuk’s hand and swinging left and right slightly on the kitchen stool he’s sitting on.

Minhyuk blinks. “I thought it was date day.”

Hyungwon shrugs.

“And we have dinner with my parents that night—” Minhyuk cuts himself off, instantly frowning. “ _Hyungwon._ ”

“What?”

“Are you trying to skip dinner with my parents?”

“No,” Hyungwon answers nonchalantly, letting go of Minhyuk’s hand, but Minhyuk grabs his hand, stopping him from leaving.

“Come on,” he whines. “I don’t know why you’re so nervous to see them all the time. They _love_ you.”

Hyungwon groans slightly. “Exactly.”

“What does that mean?” Minhyuk pouts.

“That makes me nervous,” Hyungwon murmurs, averting his stare and pouting too.

“Oh, sweetie,” Minhyuk coos, getting off the kitchen stool and pulling Hyungwon against his chest. “That’s no reason to not want to see them. They’re the only ones we got now, anyway.”

Hyungwon shuts his eyes briefly, wrapping his arms around Minhyuk’s waist as Minhyuk pulls him closer and tighter in his arms.

Minhyuk’s so warm, Hyungwon hates how he just melts in his embrace. “They’re just going to bring up the glass door incident again.”

Minhyuk bursts out laughing, his whole body shaking against Hyungwon. His hand is in Hyungwon’s hair as he looks down at his husband pouting against his chest. “And you’re just going to bring up how you went to the gym even though it was only for 1 week.”

“It was 1 week!”

“You barely worked out!”

Hyungwon huffs, untangling Minhyuk’s arms around him. He thinks it’s an interesting story to tell, how he felt like his strength immediately grew after working out. His father-in-law had always commented on his lanky arms or made a comment on how weak he appears to be. It makes him feel like he could never live up to his husband’s father who’s a strong old man despite his age. “Anyway, this weekend?”

Minhyuk sighs, throwing him a look, but a second later giving in anyway. “I’ll tell mom we can’t make it.”

“It’s gonna be a long drive to get there,” Hyungwon tells him, looking at the map and wondering what kind of a place Changkyun used to live in.

“Oh, a roadtrip,” Minhyuk muses excitedly, rubbing his shoulder. “We’ve never really gone on a roadtrip to the countryside.”

“Come to think of it, you’re right.”

They have travelled together before. For their honeymoon. Also when Minhyuk surprised visited him when he was studying in Europe, and they went around the various neighboring countries together the whole summer. It was one of the best summers they have had together, minus the part where Minhyuk hit him on the head for making up French words just to impress him in Paris.

“I can’t wait to tell Changkyun about it,” Minhyuk mutters more to himself, zooming in on the map and humming to himself excitedly as he looks at what they have around the area.

They waited for Changkyun to appear on Saturday morning, Minhyuk yawning so early in the day as he tried to cram in some work during the weekend by reading one of the manuscripts he had brought home.

He said he hasn’t read any interesting stories lately, putting down the manuscript to start packing their things instead. 

Hyungwon told him maybe it’s about time he writes one himself, perhaps about ghosts since he’s had first hand experience— Minhyuk’s a great writer, Hyungwon knows that— but Minhyuk dismissed the idea easily as he starts getting ready for the trip.

Hyungwon watches as he packs some toys into a bag, some story books too. And Minhyuk catches him staring, smiling.

“In case he gets bored,” he tells Hyungwon. He picks up an extra sweater too, putting it into the bag. “In case you get cold.”

And Changkyun appears almost an hour later, Hyungwon finds after he exits the bathroom. He’s drawing on papers scattered on the floor.

“Come on, let’s go,” Minhyuk tells the two of them, picking up the bag with the toys and books.

Hyungwon watches Changkyun getting up on his feet, his eyes still glued on the floor. He gives the boy a warning grunt the second he realizes the boy tries to draw on the floor again.

Changkyun stares at him for a second, and just ignores him then, running with his arms outstretched to Minhyuk who picks him up and walks out of the house.

Hyungwon sighs, taking the car keys.

The drive is filled with children’s songs again. They stop by every now and then, and Hyungwon gets him and Minhyuk sandwiches for lunch and some snacks to munch on too. He gets complaints about the cucumbers in the sandwich and spends some time with the car parked at the side of the road to take them out.

“You’re quiet,” Minhyuk then points out while on the road, he’s ripped open a bag of Hyungwon’s favorite snack to feed him while he’s driving. The sound of a kid’s choir singing _baa baa black sheep_ is playing on Minhyuk’s phone that Minhyuk has given Changkyun to play with in the backseat. 

It keeps Changkyun still—not that Changkyun is restless, but he watches the cartoon quietly, never taking his eyes off the animation.

“I’m thinking,” Hyungwon tells Minhyuk with a full mouth and expanding cheeks.

Minhyuk hums, taking off the cap of a water bottle to offer Hyungwon water. Hyungwon accepts it gratefully.

“What is it?”

“You know that thing Hoseok kept doing?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk blinks at the road, taking the bottle from Hyungwon’s hand and drinking from it himself. He hums again as he puts the cap back on. “The thing with the fridge?”

“Yeah,” Hyungwon agrees thoughtfully. 

“What about it?”

“He went to get groceries, right?”

“He did. You assumed he checked the fridge, found it was empty and left to get groceries.”

“And that’s exactly what happened.”

“Hyungwon,” Minhyuk whines. “I’m not sure I’m getting where you’re coming from.”

“It’s just that he kept repeating the same actions, and I don’t think he realizes it.” Hyungwon has seen this kind of behavior before at work. People repeating certain actions over, and over again just to ease a thought. Did it bother Hoseok that he never got the groceries home after all? “He’s repeating the actions he has done right before he passed away.”

“So, you’re saying, since we figured out he went to get groceries from that, then there might be a clue for Changkyun too? From his actions?” Minhyuk asks in a low voice, presumably so Changkyun wouldn’t hear them.

Hyungwon doesn’t think he could anyway, because apparently if you’re happy and you know it then you have to sing really loud.

“Well,” Minhyuk slumps in his seat, thinking. “I can’t think of anything. Changkyun sits still most of the time.” He turns around to check on Changkyun, his smile audible to Hyungwon even as Hyungwon keeps his eyes on the road. “We’re almost there,” he tells the boy, reaching in the back to ruffle at his hair.

Unfortunately, Hyungwon can’t seem to come up with any clues either. He’ll leave the investigation when they’re at Changkyun’s hometown instead.

They arrived at the town a little past 4, and Hyungwon parked near a small restaurant so they could get out and walk around.

Minhyuk carries Changkyun in his arms, looking around the houses lined up on the streets and smiling at some people passing by. Hyungwon doesn’t know how much Changkyun weighs, because he’s never carried the boy, but he makes a note to tell Minhyuk to let the boy walk by himself some time. Minhyuk might tire himself out quicker if he keeps up with the habit of not letting the boy go.

“Well, why don’t we look around,” Minhyuk beckons for him to follow as Hyungwon tries to look for the street they’re looking for.

The sun is orange in the sky, preparing to set and the shadows are long as they walk around. An old woman sitting out of a house watches them, smiling widely when Hyungwon catches her eyes.

“Such an adorable little boy,” she points out, referring to Changkyun.

Hyungwon stares at her, but Minhyuk just smiles and nods politely at the old woman, pulling at Hyungwon to keep walking.

Hyungwon walks closely to Minhyuk, goosebumps rising on his skin. “Is she— Is she also—”

“Yeah, Hyungwon,” Minhyuk answers discreetly, nonchalant. “Just keep walking.”

Hyungwon swallows a lump in his throat, keeping close to Minhyuk as they continue walking, passing by the houses and some kids chasing each other around with sticks. Who knows if there are more ghosts around, Hyungwon thinks.

Maybe that old man watering the plants outside his house is also a ghost. He gives Hyungwon a stink eye when he notices Hyungwon staring at him intently, and Hyungwon just looks away, embarrassed.

“Well, I think the town really changed since 20 years ago,” Minhyuk sighs, stopping in front of a shop and setting Changkyun down. He stretches his arms as Changkyun runs to the toys displayed in front of the shop.

Hyungwon notices they are all old toys. Some spinning tops that used to be really popular when Hyungwon was a kid. Some old design of barbies, and even one of those toys where you get to fish for plastic fishes. There are those machines with toy capsules too.

“Oh, are you interested in any of these?” Minhyuk asks, walking to Changkyun’s side.

“These old toys got you all nostalgic, huh?” The shopkeeper calls from the counter, walking around it and smiling at the two husbands. “Bet you two used to play with these when you were kids.” The old man grins knowingly.

“Yeah,” Minhyuk answers, picking up one of those spinning tops. “These were really popular back in the days.”

“Get one as a souvenir,” The old man chuckles.

Minhyuk hands it to Hyungwon. “Take it,” he tells Hyungwon, but Hyungwon knows it’s for Changkyun.

“How long have you been running this shop, sir?” Minhyuk asks, walking into the shop. Looking around. The shop is evidently old, what with the top shelves all dusty, and the walls filled with old posters of some events or products, stacked on one another. The colors faded over time that the words could barely be made out.

Hyungwon’s scrutinizing the colorful yet turned dull over the years spinning top in his hand, when he notices Changkyun staring up at him interestedly.

“I’m going to have to pay for it first,” he tells the boy discreetly, following Minhyuk’s steps into the shop, where he finds the shelves are all filled with snacks he used to love when he was a kid.

He doesn’t hesitate to take them too.

“Let’s see, a little over 30 years already,” the man tells Minhyuk at the counter, looking around for a bag to put their purchase in.

Minhyuk leans over the counter, intrigued. “The town has really changed over the years, huh?”

The man sighs a little, rummaging through the cupboard behind the counter. “Those developers…”

Minhyuk takes the chance to pull Hyungwon closer.

“Take Changkyun with you, I’ll ask for some information here meanwhile,” he whispers to Hyungwon.

“What?”

“Look,” he gestures at Changkyun. “He wants to play with that, he’s getting impatient.”

Hyungwon sighs defeatedly, putting all their purchases on the counter. The shopkeeper finds the bag he was looking for, fills it with all the things they’re buying, happy to see some new customers other than the usual town folks, he said.

Hyungwon leaves them to converse, subtly ushering Changkyun out of the shop with him. Changkyun keeps looking back though, probably worried that they’re leaving Minhyuk behind.

Kids get attached to Minhyuk. Hyungwon knows that. He experienced it too even if he’s an adult.

So Hyungwon sighs knowingly outside the shop, reaching out a hand for Changkyun to take before even realizing it. Changkyun just stares at the offer, and Hyungwon takes the offer back timidly.

“Come on,” he rummages into the bag, taking out the spinning top. “Let’s try this out.”

Changkyun’s quick to follow him then, even skipping as they made their way to a clearing, kicking some pebbles on their way excitedly.

Hyungwon still got his skills, apparently. Although, he would have to admit, he didn’t remember getting the top to spin longer as he would like as an extremely difficult challenge.

Changkyun watches quietly as he keeps on repeating the same thing, placing the top into its launcher, releasing it onto the ground. 

“This is really hard,” he tells Changkyun, out of breath from trying (screaming) not to let the top topple so soon. But it’s on the ground already, unmoving.

Changkyun puts out his little hand to take his turn, and Hyungwon gladly lets him take his turn. He sits down on a bench and watches as Changkyun imitates what he has done before. Trying again and again when he fails to get the top to spin as fast as Hyungwon could.

Hyungwon laughs fondly at his attempts, snacking on the snacks he has bought. He’s thinking they should have bought two, at least they could battle if they had two tops.

The boy succeeds after many tries though, and Hyungwon claps for him.

Minhyuk arrives a little while later, looking a little bothered by whatever he has found out from the shopkeeper.

“What did you find out?” Hyungwon asks Minhyuk when they’re sitting next to each other on the bench, Changkyun hopping around the spinning top on the ground.

“So this old man told me that there was a missing child case 20 years ago, it was pretty big back in the days,” Minhyuk mutters, taking the snack out of Hyungwon’s hand and munching on it, deep in thought. “And oh, look, the old man tore this off the wall, ” he takes out a folded paper out of his pocket, and the paper’s yellow with age.

Hyungwon unfolds it carefully, and they look at the faded picture of a small boy.

Despite the faded ink, and photo, Hyungwon could make out the outline features of Changkyun’s face on the paper. The words are slightly intelligible but he can read the incomplete address to a nearby police station.

“He went missing,” Hyungwon states almost in disbelief, frowning at the old photo that probably no one else in the town could recognize anymore.

The boy’s right there though, playing with a spinning top in his quiet excitement.

“He doesn’t know if they ever found him,” Minhyuk goes on. “Said that Changkyun’s father used to live around here, but he moved away without telling anyone in town for no reason. That was before Changkyun went missing.”

“Oh,” Hyungwon refolds the paper. 

“The old house was also demolished when the developers started their redevelopment project 10 years ago.”

“So we have no way of looking for that new address from 20 years ago,” Hyungwon states, a little troubled by how complicated things have turned out. After all, it has been a long time since Changkyun has passed.

He also wonders how Changkyun has managed by himself for so many years. When people can’t even see him or even talk to him. Wonders if it has been lonely for the little boy now looking over at some stones on the ground, the spinning top abandoned when it has stopped spinning.

“He did suggest the town library though, maybe there would be physical records there,” Minhyuk mutters, feeding Hyungwon some of the snacks as they walk to Changkyun who’s already collecting stones he deems interesting.

“Let’s go then.” Hyungwon picks up the spinning top while Minhyuk picks Changkyun up, dusting off the boy’s pants.

The town library is in the center of the town, so it wasn’t hard to find. They fear it might be closed though, seeing as how it looks a little dark inside.

Hyungwon and Minhyuk walk into the library, and it’s eerily quiet as they approach the information counter. They could tell the building is old, judging by the design and the condition. There are notices that the library will be shutting down soon for reconstructions, probably part of the redevelopment project too.

“Hello,” Hyungwon calls out at the empty counter. There is no bell to ring, he points out to Minhyuk before an old woman just appears from under the counter.

“There is no bell, because it’s a library, and it’s supposed to be quiet in here,” she tells Hyungwon, scowling.

Hyungwon won’t lie how he almost had a heart attack at the sudden appearance of the old woman that he might have died for a second there.

And she’s looking over him and Minhyuk through her glasses, pursing her lips almost suspiciously. 

“What can I help you two young men with?” She asks rather coldly as she flips through a big book she has taken from under the counter.

She places— _slams_ the book on the counter in between them, and Hyungwon and Minhyuk cough at the dust that flies around from her actions. It’s a visitor’s book.

Hyungwon reads over the names on the pages, the dates. Last visitor was a year ago.

Do people really not go to libraries anymore?

And he looks at the old woman cautiously, who just stares back at him indifferently.

“I’m sorry, but um,” he lifts a shaky finger. “You’re not a ghost, are you?”

Hyungwon sighs outside the library, sitting on the stairs.

He can’t believe he was kicked out for assuming the old woman at the counter has died and is just a ghost librarian. He also didn’t know how offensive it was to assume a person is a ghost, especially an old person. Oh well, it was entirely his fault anyway.

And now Minhyuk’s inside, probably skimming through documents as fast as he could because the library’s closing soon as the old librarian has warned them. He left Changkyun with Hyungwon though, and Changkyun’s hopping up and down the stairs, well adapted to entertaining himself.

He automatically cleans himself after he has disappeared _and_ he’s good at keeping himself preoccupied, Hyungwon’s thinking. Truly a special kid. Must have been real easy to look after when he was still alive.

Minhyuk sends him a text, asking him if Changkyun is still with him. Probably worried the boy has run off and disappeared for the day.

Hyungwon tells him he is, and when he lifts his phone to take a picture as proof, he realizes Changkyun does not even appear on camera, the stairs empty, and orange from the setting sun. Even his shadow is non-existent.

He mentally slaps himself. That child is a ghost, what was he thinking.

So he tells Minhyuk to hurry up with his search instead.

Changkyun finds a twig somewhere and starts running around with it. But never straying too far away from Hyungwon.

Hyungwon wonders what’s so fun about a mere twig as Changkyun starts scratching the ground with it. He couldn’t remember how a child’s imagination tends to work so well with one plain object, even though he has been a child himself.

And Changkyun hops and hops on the stairs, before tripping with a loud “ _Ow_!”

It’s the loudest Changkyun has been and Hyungwon panics, immediately scrambling towards the kid who’s whimpering at his fall. He has tears in his eyes, but other than that he doesn’t seem bothered much by the fall.

“Oh my god, are you okay?” Hyungwon asks frantically, looking over the boy as the boy sits down, rubbing at his elbows and knees. There are no scratches, and Hyungwon wonders if he doesn’t get hurt because he’s a ghost. He’s thankful there is no evidence of hurt though, he doesn’t know what Minhyuk might do if he finds out. He wouldn’t know what to do either, particularly because he can’t even hold the boy. 

He’s certain that the boy wouldn’t have fallen if he could hold him in the first place. Hyungwon prides himself with good reflex when it comes to catching someone before they even trip, especially Minhyuk.

“Don’t tell Minhyuk you fell, please.” He puts a finger on his lips and Changkyun just blinks up at him, unbothered.

Hyungwon blinks at Changkyun’s lack of reaction after a fall, most kids would just cry, he assumes.

“You two are really quiet,” Minhyuk announces his arrival with the statement, and Hyungwon gets up to give him a weak smile.

“So, any leads?” He asks, watching how Changkyun just stands up and resumes playing with the twig he’s found again.

Minhyuk takes out his phone. “I took pictures of the old newspaper since the librarian told me I can’t take them out.”

Hyungwon takes the phone, zooming in on the article. There’s a clearer picture of Changkyun there, it’s of him at home with a toy truck in his hands. It only said that the boy disappeared on a stormy day, his father realized when he didn’t come home as usual after playing outside in the afternoon.

“Look,” Minhyuk takes him to another photo of an article. It is an interview with a man in a white coat, shown in the picture. “His father was a scientist, and just like the shopkeeper said, he moved away to the outskirts of this town when his wife fell ill.”

“So we have to find the new home now.”

“Outskirts of the town would be near the sea.” Minhyuk looks at Changkyun who’s in his own world.

“We can drive there and maybe ask some locals if they know him?” Hyungwon shows Minhyuk the phone, in the photo is Changkyun’s father’s name.

Nothing came up on the internet when Hyungwon searched for the scientist’s name. It’s like the scientist also disappeared when his son went missing. So as Minhyuk is fussing over Changkyun in the seat next to him he sends a quick text to Hyunwoo who might be able to dig up some more information.

They drove to the outskirts of town, Minhyuk and Changkyun looking out at the grey sea excitedly through the window in the passenger seat.

It’s late when they get out of the car, so there aren’t many people outside. 

“We should find someone who’s lived here for quite some time,” Minhyuk tells Hyungwon, carrying Changkyun in his arms. Changkyun is quiet, looking out at the sea as they walk on the street.

They see an old man walking alone, presumably on his way home. So Hyungwon politely greets him, walking to him and asking him if he’s lived there for a long time.

“Well, of course, I’ve lived here all my life,” the old man answered good naturedly, smiling at the two husbands curiously. “You two are not from here, are you?”

Hyungwon shakes his head. “We’re actually looking for someone.”

“Oh,” the man takes off his hat. “Who are you looking for?”

Hyungwon takes out Minhyuk’s phone with the photo of Changkyun’s father. “The scientist? We have a very important matter to discuss with him, and we were wondering if you happen to know where he lives?”

The man squints at the photo, coming closer to get a good look. It’s clear that he recognizes the person, but he’s also surprised that the two are looking for that particular person as he eyes the two of them rather suspiciously.

“His house is over there,” he says, slowly, with slightly shaking finger, points at an old house on the cliff overlooking the sea.

Minhyuk and Hyungwon stare at the lone, big house up there, surrounded by some dead trees.

“But you won’t find him there,” the old man goes on, and Hyungwon blinks at him, confused. “He moved away a long time ago.”

“What?” Minhyuk can’t help blurting out, and he seems worried, because just as they thought they’re getting closer to returning Changkyun back to his family, they realized they’re still far away from that. “Where to?”

The man shrugs, “Some other country.”

Hyungwon sighs, looking over at Changkyun. Changkyun doesn’t seem like he’s heard them from the way he is staring at the house too, with an unfathomable expression on his face.

“Do you happen to know any of his family members?” Hyungwon asks.

The man scoffs, like it’s a bad question. “He moved there when his wife fell terminally ill. But his wife didn’t last long, she passed away not long after. And his kid,” he shakes his head almost disappointedly. “His kid was always running around by himself. He never really cared about his son out here alone.” He points at the streets. “I’d always find the boy running around from here to there. He didn’t mingle with other kids, preferring to play alone. That was 20 years ago. I don’t know what happened to him though, he went missing on the day there was the storm, and never came back.”

They all sigh sadly at the unfortunate event that has transpired a long time ago.

“Poor kid, we have always thought he deserved more attention from his parent.”

Hyungwon looks at Minhyuk, who’s already looking at him. He thinks both of them don’t know what to do now.

“Should we just go to the house?” Minhyuk whispers to him.

The old man laughs a little, having heard Minhyuk. He also eyes Minhyuk’s posture almost confusedly, unable to see the child the man is carrying. “Well, you won’t be the first visitor to go to that old house over there.”

“What do you mean?”

“No one lives there anymore. It’s a spot for the wild teenagers to go do whatever it is they’re doing. And this isn’t the first time visitors from the city have come to check out the haunted house too.”

“Is it really haunted?” Hyungwon asks, swallowing a lump in his throat. He wouldn’t have been spooked had it been before Changkyun, but now that he knows ghosts exist he’s pretty sure the house would be a dangerous place to go to.

“Haunted by rowdy teenagers, I would say. You won’t find anything there, trust me,” the old man shrugs and leaves them without any more words.

Minhyuk and Hyungwon watch him leave, rather dejected.

“Well?” Hyungwon looks at Changkyun who just seems bored in Minhyuk’s arms, head on Minhyuk’s shoulder as he just blinks at the sea.

Minhyuk sighs a little, putting Changkyun down and Changkyun just walks to some of the flower pots lining the small street, looking at the stones there too.

“I have to admit I don’t know how this works,” Minhyuk murmurs to his husband as he crosses his arms, eyes glued on the boy playing by himself. “You seen how it works before, we returned Hoseok to his fiancé, and after we left I’m pretty sure he just fades away as usual, but that would be the last of him.”

“How do we know that?”

Minhyuk blinks at him, a little perplexed. But then his shoulders sag a little. “My grandma faded away once all of our family was at the house, and she never came back after.”

He never told Hyungwon that. Obviously, it’s because he’s only known Minhyuk’s ability to see ghosts only recently, and while he knew he was particularly close to his grandma he never thought Minhyuk would see her ghost off too. He wonders how it felt like, saying your final goodbyes.

“But that house is empty, Minhyuk,” Hyungwon sighs tiredly, looking at the house.

“Maybe if we just take him there, he’d… I don’t know, he’d be _home_?” Minhyuk turns to him, stares at him hopefully. “He never returned, after all, did he? Maybe that would be a closure for him?”

Hyungwon nods at him.

“Let’s go now,” Minhyuk walks to Changkyun and starts telling Changkyun they’re going to go somewhere else.

They drove right to the foot of the hill, before Hyungwon decided it was too steep to drive all the way up. Plus, past the open gate— that seems like it had been broken in— the ground does not seem favorable for a safe drive. And Hyungwon doesn’t want to risk anything.

So they got out of the car, and it’s going to get dark soon.

“If it works out then we’ll be on our way home tonight,” Minhyuk whispers to him, a hand clenched into Hyungwon’s jacket when he pulled Hyungwon closer.

Hyungwon looks at him, and he doesn’t know why he feels a little regretful at the thought, even with a smile from Minhyuk that was supposed to make him feel better.

“Hold on,” Hyungwon tells the two already at the gate as he walks round his car. “We can’t be too sure there’s nothing dangerous up there.”

He pulls the trunk open, and seeing as how it is empty saved for the tennis racket he’d left in there a long time ago, he decides to take it into his hand.

“What is that for?” Minhyuk asks rather incredulously, holding onto Changkyun’s hand.

“For tennis,” Hyungwon answers him, swinging the racket slightly as if he’s playing at the court. “I play tennis, remember?”

“Yeah, right,” Minhyuk blows air through his lips. “That one time.”

“Hey, it’s in there every day for a reason, I’m thinking of getting back into it,” Hyungwon replies indignantly while Minhyuk just stares him down, before turning away and leading the way up under the orange sky.

“Keep telling yourself that, if it makes you feel better.”

Hyungwon clutches at his heart, hurt, before running up to catch up with the two. Changkyun’s skipping alongside Minhyuk, who swings their hands together.

“Home,” he hears Changkyun saying.

“Yes,” Minhyuk looks down at the boy rather surprisedly. “We’re taking you home!”

Changkyun just keeps on skipping, and as the sky darkens as they walk up the hill, Hyungwon takes the initiative to lead the way with his tennis racket.

And to be honest, if his heart didn’t sink a little out of fear at the sight of the big, abandoned house, he would be out of his mind. Because he gets why the house gets a reputation of being haunted now. It’s eerily quiet up there except for the distant sound of the sea, and it didn’t help that the sun had set.

They should have come back during the day, Hyungwon thinks as he fixes his glasses. But there’s no going back now, they’re there already.

“Well,” Minhyuk breathes out at the sight of the house, looking a little unsure of it too. But he doesn’t seem scared and that kind of intimidates Hyungwon sometimes. He knows Minhyuk can be fearless— especially since he’s lived his life seeing ghosts— but Hyungwon didn’t think he’d be abandoned-haunted-house fearless. “Changkyun, do you wanna go inside?”

Changkyun nods up at him.

Hyungwon takes out his phone and turns on the flashlight as they walk to the closed door at the entrance. There are some words sprayed on the door that Hyungwon doesn’t want to make out what it says for Changkyun’s and his heart’s sake.

There is also graffiti on the tall pillars and walls, obviously the rowdy teenagers had turned this into their place.

“Do you think it’s occupied?” Hyungwon asks Minhyuk, craning his neck to look at his husband who’s peeking curiously through a broken window with his own phone flashlight.

“It’s quiet, I don’t think it is,” Minhyuk whispers to him when Hyungwon pulls him closer by his sleeve, just to keep the two close to him in case of anything.

Hyungwon tries the door, and is not surprised it’s not locked.

So he pushes it open and the creaking echoes into the house, making Hyungwon shiver in fear of the unknown that lies ahead.

The foyer they’re walking into is huge, and has high ceilings. There’s a crumbled staircase that seems to lead up to the second floor, but Hyungwon thinks no one has been up there judging by the vines creeping over every surface, undisturbed.

There is more graffitis. 

But no sign of anyone.

He checks just to make sure Minhyuk’s still holding onto Changkyun’s hand. And Changkyun just looks around like he’s been home all this time, like nothing had changed in 20 years.

Hyungwon doesn’t know where to go except forward, holding up the racket in front of him this time as he carefully looks around with his light.

There are some candles and spoons on the floor, and he glances at Minhyuk who just shakes his head, covering his nose with an arm. It is pretty dusty in there.

Hyungwon pushes on, waving the cobweb in the open doorway away with his racket.

It leads them to a spacious room, which Hyungwon thinks is a living room. And it’s so empty that the sea breeze blows in with a soft howling, making chill run up Hyungwon’s spine.

There are broken chairs, and old, torn down couches in some corners. 

There is a room on the other side too and the door’s broken off its hinges, swinging slightly at their passing. But just like every other room it’s empty, except for some broken furniture and the wind sounding like a horror movie sound effect.

He turns to Minhyuk, a little clueless. They’re in a scary, abandoned house, and Changkyun doesn’t seem fazed at all by his return, even though he knows it was his home.

And Minhyuk doesn’t seem like he knows what’s going on either.

“What are you doing here?”

Hyungwon and Minhyuk whip around to find where the sudden voice had come from, but no one is there except for them. 

“What the fuck?” Hyungwon hisses at Minhyuk, pulling him close.

“I asked, what are you doing here?” The voice asks again, rough and intimidating.

“Oh, they can hear us!” Another cheery voice echoes excitedly throughout the room and Hyungwon swallows a lump in his throat, shining his flashlight everywhere and finding nothing.

“Do you see anything?” Hyungwon whispers to Minhyuk.

Minhyuk holds onto him, his nails digging into his arm. “No, I don’t see anything,” he whispers urgently, flashing his lights at every corner too, but finding nothing.

“Hey, hey, stop whispering!” Another voice shouts, annoyed. “That’s rude! We want to know what the two of you are talking about too!”

“Look! They brought a kid!” 

“He’s one of us!”

“Minhyuk, keep Changkyun close to you,” Hyungwon mutters to his husband, backing up in the room, the racket tight in his hand. And his hand is turning clammy, he feels like the racket might slip. He knows he can’t hurt them with his racket, but they can touch Minhyuk and Changkyun and he doesn’t want to risk that to happen.

“Come here boy! What are you doing with them over there?”

“That’s it, we’re leaving,” Hyungwon tells Minhyuk, noticing how quickly the voices had turned menacing as he’s urging his husband to get out through the doorway, and suddenly there’s a gush of wind that blows at them. It almost catches them off balance and Hyungwon steadies Minhyuk with a hand on his back.

And he hears howling, and he thinks, _screaming_.

_“You just got here! Stay with us, give us the boy!”_

Hyungwon coughs at the dust that flies around, and there’s still no one in the room with them as they hurry up to the open doorway. Minhyuk and Changkyun rushes through it but when it comes to Hyungwon he finds himself tripping on the broken door, and amidst the howling he hears cackling.

“Hyungwon!” Minhyuk shouts, turning around again to help him up before there’s another gush of wind and Minhyuk’s almost blown off his feet. Yet he’s grabbing Changkyun by the shoulder to keep the boy safe.

“Go, I’ll catch up!” Hyungwon bellows under the sound of howling and cackling that just gets louder and louder as it echoes throughout the whole house and the building shakes as he tries to get on his feet.

But he finds his jeans stuck to the broken piece of wood on the door, struggling to get it off as suddenly the wind blowing just turns cold and colder.

“I’m not leaving you!” Minhyuk runs to him, Changkyun following. And he grabs at Hyungwon’s arm to pull him up as the wind starts making debris fly everywhere and Hyungwon’s panicking because with the chill that creeps up his back it feels like something is coming.

Something is emerging in the room itself.

And he doesn’t want all of them to stay there and find out what it is.

Minhyuk seems to feel it too, crying out as he pulls at Hyungwon’s arm and—

“Shit!” Hyungwon almost screams, eyes wide as Minhyuk stares at him in alarm. “Something’s pulling me! Minhyuk you gotta leave—” he could feel cold phantom wrapping around his ankle and pulling so strongly that Hyungwon jerks back into the room “—I’ll catch up, I promise!”

Minhyuk shakes his head in the darkness, still pulling at Hyungwon’s arm, the flashlight focused elsewhere and Hyungwon thinks he sees shadows looming all around them.

“You’re gonna die!” Minhyuk screams, absolutely terrified and that isn’t even half of what Hyungwon is feeling as there’s weight and strength that pulls at his legs now.

“If I die I just want you to know that I bumped my head on the glass door cause I wanted to run to you in the backyard!” Hyungwon shouts at him, tears pooling in his eyes as he’s struggling and kicking at whatever’s pulling at his legs. “You just looked so beautiful lying under the sprinklers!”

Minhyuk wails in his tug war struggle, scratching at his arm just to not let go. “I slipped on the grass cause it was slippery! And I couldn’t get up cause my back hurt!”

“ _What?!_ ”

“Just get up!” Minhyuk screams.

And in the disbelief that the embarrassing story that had always had his husband and his in-laws laughing at him would have been much more embarrassing if everyone knows about Minhyuk slipping, Hyungwon strikes with the racket in his hand at whatever’s pulling him, and it hits something, resulting in a loud inhuman scream and it yanks the racket out of his hand.

It flies off into the wall at the far end and Hyungwon wastes no time to think about how he’s not getting back into tennis after all and scrambles up on to his feet with Minhyuk’s help.

_“You’re being very rude guests!”_

The voice bellows out and Hyungwon can feel it down to his bones as he turns around, and suddenly there are just uncountable shadows and scary faces with bloodshot eyes staring and screaming at him— that he did the most logical thing he could do— just screams back at the top of his lungs.

He scrambles to run out of the house and into safety— just grabs Changkyun into one arm, and pulls at Minhyuk’s hand as he runs out of the haunted house, still screaming loud enough to rival the other ghosts that chased after them.

But as soon as they step out of the house, running for their dear lives without looking back, the ghosts faded instantly with their screeching.

Yet they still don’t look back as they panted heavily, running down the hill. It just felt urgent to make sure they run as far as possible for safety even when Hyungwon’s muscles ache running down the steep ground.

“Hyungwon,” Minhyuk slaps at his arm repeatedly to get his attention and to make Hyungwon let go of him. “Hyungwon, slow down! They’ve disappeared!”

Hyungwon slows down eventually on the way down, coughing out for oxygen and keeping Changkyun tight against him.

Minhyuk has both hands on his knees, tired and out of breath too.

“What was that?” Hyungwon asks, still in shock. What happened felt like a scene out of some cheap horror movie.

Minhyuk just stares up at him, eyes wide like Hyungwon is so stupid and missing one crazy thing that’s happening right now. “Hyungwon! You’re carrying Changkyun!”

“What?”

Minhyuk lets out a loud laugh, staring at his husband and the ghost child in his arm in disbelief and excitement. “You’re holding him! You’re doing it!”

Hyungwon looks at Changkyun in his arms, and Changkyun just blinks at him. He couldn’t quite believe the weight in his arms. Though he felt no warmth or anything, he could feel the crumpled shirt in his hands, the weight of Changkyun’s hand on his shoulder.

Admittedly, it’s a little strange, but it’s real. He carried Changkyun out of the house, and he still is.

“This is amazing!” He starts bouncing Changkyun in his arms excitedly to celebrate, and Changkyun lets out a small giggle that he keeps doing it, twirling around while Minhyuk squeals happily at the two of them.

“What even happened?” Minhyuk asks in wonderment, walking to the two and fixing both of their hair at the same time steadying his husband who went dizzy from excitement with onother hand. “First, you couldn’t see him, and then you could. And now you’re actually… holding him?”

“I don’t know,” Hyungwon shakes his head in exhilaration, still catching his breath from the chase and the excitement. “But it feels good.”

Minhyuk’s eyes sparkle under the night sky as he looks at Hyungwon with a wide smile.

“He doesn’t weigh as heavy as I thought he would too,” Hyungwon tells him. “Hey, maybe it’s that 1 week at the gym, huh?”

Minhyuk immediately rolls his eyes and slaps him on his arm. He proceeds to walking down the hill as Hyungwon catches up to him, shifting Changkyun’s weight on his other arm. Changkyun doesn’t resist, just looks around silently while they walk.

“What now?” Hyungwon asks.

Minhyuk sighs. It’s been such a long day that Hyungwon feels sorry that he’s so tired. “Maybe we can check it out tomorrow, during the day?”

Hyungwon nods. “That sounds safer.”

“Did you leave your racket back in the house?”

“Yeah, damn it. I’ll get it back tomorrow.”

Minhyuk chuckles.

“For now, I’ll find us a place to sleep for the night.”

Minhyuk nods, rubbing at his eyes.

And they walk to their car in silence. What happened back in the house feels unreal by now, considering how peaceful and quiet it is outside there, with the dead trees rustling just a little and the sky twinkling with stars. The car comes into sight and Hyungwon’s relieved because it indicates real safety.

“Oh no,” Changkyun suddenly mutters, Hyungwon perplexed.

He hears a soft thud and when he turns around Minhyuk has crumbled down onto his knees way behind him.

“Minhyuk!” 

Changkyun squirms as if urging him to go to Minhyuk, and Hyungwon quickly goes to him as he gets up carefully and slowly.

“Are you okay?” Hyungwon asks worriedly trying to find out if he’s hurt anywhere, but he doesn’t find anything and when he looks at Minhyuk, Minhyuk’s wiping blood away from his nose. “Oh my god, Minhyuk.”

Minhyuk’s breathing heavily, looking woozy as Hyungwon grabs an arm to steady him.

“I’m fine,” Minhyuk whispers weakly, wiping more blood away and his hand is red. His face scrunches at the sight.

“No, you’re not, we need to get you in the car, hurry.”

He wraps an arm around Minhyuk gently, the other one holding onto Changkyun as he’s leading the way to the car while glancing at his husband every now and then.

Minhyuk doesn’t look too good, he could barely keep up, face pale and blood still spilling out of his nostril.

Changkyun stares at him.

Minhyuk manages a small smile for the boy. “I’m alright, Changkyun. It’s just a little accident.”

They get to the car, and Hyungwon pulls the passenger door open to let Minhyuk in. And Minhyuk takes a seat, sighing in relief as he grabs at the tissues in the compartment to wipe at his blood.

Hyungwon watches, with heavy worries and furrowed eyebrows. Changkyun is heavy in his arms as he stares at Minhyuk who’s still regaining his breaths.

“How are you? Should I call— I should call an ambulance— is it 911—”

“No.”

Hyungwon’s stammering anxiously and Minhyuk just shakes his head, eyes shut. He blows the last of the blood out of his nose and then smiles at his husband with a red smudge on his philtrum. It looks like that one time Minhyuk had eaten the pasta Hyungwon had painstakingly learned to prepare sloppily. Tomato mustache they called it.

“I’m fine.”

Hyungwon sighs, nodding in defeat and resolving to get his husband to rest as soon as possible while Minhyuk cleans himself up.

So he turns to put Changkyun in the backseat, when Minhyuk just puts out his arms, confused.

“Hyungwon?” Minhyuk calls out, still holding out his arms for the boy. He seems terribly confused, and distressed, so Hyungwon just hesitantly gives him the boy, whom he takes happily onto his lap.

Hyungwon had pulled out the map for the nearest motel. And it’s quite a drive as he sees the shops and restaurants all already closing at that time of the night. They barely had a meal, and he’s wondering where he can get food for Minhyuk.

And Minhyuk’s sleeping beside him in the car, with Changkyun safe and snug in his arms. Looking out the window in his ghostly silence.

Hyungwon looks at the sight before him under the street lights as he drives on the empty road, and smiles a little.

He gets them a room for the night, and once he gets the keys he hurries back to the car where Minhyuk is still sleeping.

He opens the door carefully, and gently wakes his husband up.

“Sleep on the bed,” he tells Minhyuk, showing him the keys.

Minhyuk nods, rubbing his eyes tiredly while Hyungwon quickly gets their things in the backseat and then picking Changkyun up after to let Minhyuk get out of the car.

He leads them to their room.

And it’s small, nothing fancy, but it would do for a place to stay. He admits he didn’t think they’d be in the town this long, but what can he do. He just has to make the best out of it.

Minhyuk kicks his shoes off, and struggles to get out of his coat, so Hyungwon helps him.

“Why don’t you get some rest while I go look for some food?” Hyungwon tells him.

Minhyuk listens to him, lying on the bed with a thankful expression on his face. He’s still pale and worn out, Hyungwon notices, pulling the blanket on to him after setting Changkyun down.

He puts their things in their place before getting ready to go out again. And he holds out a hand for Changkyun to take once he’s at the door.

“No,” Minhyuk speaks up from the bed. “Let him stay.”

“But—”

“I will rest,” Minhyuk assures him, knowing exactly what this is. Knowing how Hyungwon is trying to get Changkyun away from him so that he would stop having his energy sucked out of him at the presence of a ghost.

Hyungwon’s extremely worried, he’s never had Minhyuk experiencing nosebleed before, let alone anything worse and if he could at least relieve him of a short time away from all the things that tire him then he would.

Changkyun just looks at the two of them back and forth quietly. At the hand Hyungwon’s holding out, and at Minhyuk who pats the bed, inviting him to climb on it.

Changkyun runs to the bed, climbing to sit next to Minhyuk.

Hyungwon sighs.

There was a convenience store still open a short drive away, thankfully, and Hyungwon came back to the motel room with a full bag of bottled water, other necessities, and instant noodles. It was all they had that would at least fill them after a day of barely getting any food.

And Minhyuk had fallen asleep on the bed, he finds, Changkyun lying in his arms and an open story book on the bed too. 

Hyungwon figures he has fallen asleep reading bedtime stories out loud for the boy, but Changkyun is still awake on the bed, blinking up at Hyungwon’s arrival. What’s the use of reading a bedtime story to a ghost who doesn’t sleep, Hyungwon’s thinking. Is it for himself? Since he’s the one who’s asleep.

He can only manage a small smile for the boy, and Changkyun gets up carefully, Minhyuk’s arm slipping off him as he slid off the bed quietly.

The ghost runs past Hyungwon, and Hyungwon watches him running through the closed door, presumably to disappear for the day.

And Minhyuk’s breathing softly on the bed, looking peaceful in his sleep that Hyungwon tiptoes to put away the open book and then getting the food ready.

Minhyuk stirs awake when he’s getting the noodles into hot water and he rushes to the bed, helps his husband get up.

Groaning a little, Minhyuk rubs at his eyes, quickly looking around and noticing the absence. 

“Whe—Where’s Changkyun?” He asks urgently, whipping his head around and is about to jump off the bed when Hyungwon holds him by his two arms.

“Relax, he’s just disappeared for the day,” Hyungwon tells him worriedly, squeezing the bony arms. “How are you feeling?”

Minhyuk’s expression softens when he finally looks at Hyungwon, the urgent feeling of Changkyun’s absence washing away as he lets Hyungwon cup his face with a hand, rubbing a thumb against the cold cheek. “I feel better now that I have napped.”

“Any headache?” Hyungwon asks.

He gets a shake of the head. “Just a little.”

Hyungwon sighs, he’d let him sleep it away after eating. “Anyway, I couldn’t find anything better for us to eat, but there’s instant noodles.”

Minhyuk smiles gratefully at him, as they move to the small table in the corner with brochures on the small town prepared there. Minhyuk looks through one interestedly while Hyungwon prepares them the food.

When he puts them down, he stares up expectantly at his husband, and Hyungwon raises his eyebrows questioningly at him.

He looks at Hyungwon up and down, inspecting him. “I’m just checking if you got hurt from before.”

The confusion on Hyungwon is brushed off as he just sighs at Minhyuk dusting off his pants at the knees for him— they must have gotten dusty from the fall back in Changkyun’s abandoned home. Minhyuk then orders him to lift his arms, looking genuinely worried that Hyungwon abides by his command, turning around at the inspection only to receive a slap on his butt.

He turns around swiftly, surprised. 

“ _Hey_ ,” he reprimands Minhyuk playfully and Minhyuk just giggles to himself, closing in on his shoulders with a bottled water clasped in both of his hands.

Hyungwon just shakes his head, taking a seat after assuring Minhyuk he didn’t get hurt.

Looking much more relaxed now, Minhyuk drinks at the bottled water— thirsty— and wipes at his lips with the back of his hand. “Crazy day, huh?” He asks, taking the hot cup noodle into his hand and starts blowing on it. The steam wafts in the air while Minhyuk tests the temperature on his lips. Hyungwon watches, accepting the noodles fed to him gladly.

“What even happened back there?” Hyungwon wonders, because now that they’re sitting in safety and are not trying to run for their lives, it hit him how different the ghosts were in that abandoned house.

“If you’re looking for answers through me, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to tell you I don’t know either,” Minhyuk manages a tiny smile as if he’s embarrassed that he’s not more knowledgeable on this topic. “I have never met such malevolent ghosts.”

Hyungwon hums when he finds Minhyuk placing a foot on his thigh, then wrapping his hands around it and squeezing while Minhyuk alternates feeding himself and Hyungwon the food. “But the things they do, the wind, you felt that too, right?”

“Yeah.”

“And, they were just grabbing at my leg, and they were so cold,” Hyungwon goes on.

“I guess, just like humans we have evil and good ghosts too, huh?” Minhyuk offers.

“That reminds me, Changkyun threw something in our bedroom too, didn’t he? It flew pretty far for a 4 year old’s throw.”

Minhyuk nods, moving on to another cup of noodles now. It’s a different flavor he finds, as he squints at the label. “You’re implying that Changkyun can actually do much more, if he wants to?”

Hyungwon blinks, he’d admit he wouldn’t have come to that conclusion if Minhyuk hadn’t said it out loud. He’s rubbing two feet now on his lap. “Yeah, exactly.”

“That’s wild.”

“That kid has a superpower and he hasn’t shown it off, not even once,” Hyungwon muses, and Minhyuk laughs in the midst of his slurping hot noodles.

“A super kid with telekinesis, and self-cleaning abilities,” Minhyuk mutters, still laughing a little and shaking in his seat.

He scoots closer to let Hyungwon drink the broth, and they finish the food. Minhyuk then just sits and watches Hyungwon giving him foot rubs, wiggling his toes just to mess with Hyungwon.

“Changkyun doesn’t seem affected returning home,” Hyungwon then tells him after they cleaned up. Other than the evil ghosts who knew how to wield their supernatural powers to scare people, the odd incident was also Changkyun acting unbothered even when he was finally home.

Minhyuk’s sitting cross legged on the bed, surfing through the channels on the tv. The screen buzzes with noises-filled news footages. The signal is bad there. The reporter talking about a storm watch is stuttering with the distorting footage. “Yeah, that’s weird right?”

Hyungwon’s glad he’s not the only one who finds it rather weird. “Doesn’t he miss… I don’t know, his dad?” He shrugs, remembering how Changkyun lost his mother at such a young age, and how the old man by the street told them that Changkyun liked to play alone.

After turning off the tv, Minhyuk pats the space on the bed, so Hyungwon sits and he scoots closer to place both hands on Hyungwon’s shoulders. 

He squeezes, and Hyungwon sighs at the tension melting away through Minhyuk’s touches. “We’ll find out tomorrow, I’m guessing,” Minhyuk whispers into his ear, and kisses his cheek, and then his shoulder.

Hyungwon smiles a little, placing a hand on the one on his shoulder, and rubs his thumb against the knuckles.

“I’m gonna sleep now,” Minhyuk moves away then, pulling the blanket up and burying himself inside.

“Already?” Hyungwon asks almost confusedly, yet following Minhyuk into the warmth and snaking his arms around Minhyuk who’s turned around and making himself comfortable already.

It reminds him of the time when Minhyuk was wrapped in his arms, at the airport, after his surprise visit one of the summer Hyungwon was studying abroad. He had left Hyungwon with 4 packs of his favorite store-bought brand of kimchi, and a pot of his favorite soft tofu stew on the stove back home. Minhyuk had been upset that he would be absent to remind Hyungwon to have his meals the following days.

And Minhyuk had whined about not wanting to go home, that long distance sucked so bad.

“You’re going to miss your flight,” Hyungwon had told him after getting a long shower of kisses. It was still a new thing. He was still getting used to Minhyuk being all affectionate and latching on to him every chance he gets. Especially when everything seemed to have been amplified a thousand times when they were living halfway across the world from each other.

Minhyuk had groaned, telling him to come home with him instead.

People at the airport had glanced at the two, finding one man hiding his face into the other’s chest and the other just standing there with his arms dangling at his sides because Minhyuk really needed to get on that plane. He had work to go back to.

“Let’s get married,” Minhyuk then said in that busy airport, hadn’t spared Hyungwon an inch of personal space all the way there and still nuzzling his face into Hyungwon.

And Hyungwon had merely blinked at the statement. It had taken him a really long time that spanned one last call for a flight to somewhere scandinavian before he foolishly responded with, “ _What_?”

Minhyuk had looked up from where he’s been hidden until now, and Hyungwon had never forgotten how he looked like at that moment. Flushed red, sad, and hopeful in his arms. “I said I want to marry you.”

And Hyungwon remembers thinking that it was ridiculous how this hopeful, godsent person would even think of marrying someone like him, the kind of emotionally constipated pain in the ass, the fly-halfway-across-the-world-just-to-remind-him-to-eat-and-not-die kind of person.

And Hyungwon also remembers he wanted to remember that sight before him, wants to keep it too, so he had brushed Minhyuk’s hair away to look at his face better. Kissed him on the forehead.

“Fine, I’ll marry you but you gotta get on that plane.”

Minhyuk looked like he would cry, but he just squealed loudly into Hyungwon’s chest, letting the taller’s body absorb all the volume. He had hopped on his feet with joy and Hyungwon groaned at the shaking it produced.

And it was that moment he had realized that he’d never thought about marriage before. For some reason he had always thought he’d have Minhyuk forever, and not thinking about marriage felt like he was taking things for granted.

So when Hyungwon returned to his home country, he had proceeded to do things the right way. He went through the procedures dutifully, they got themselves the rings and everything and Hyungwon had cried for almost an hour during a dinner with Minhyuk’s parents; revealing that they were lovers, has always been since a long time ago, and just telling them how much Minhyuk meant to him in between ugly sobs that he only stopped when they— almost exasperatedly— told him that _okay they will let him marry their son just please for the love of god stop crying_ as if it was just an attempt to appease the neverending tears.

It was just a tough time for Hyungwon personally and he _really_ needed to know he’d have Minhyuk in his life until death.

“I need to wake up early tomorrow so that I’d be there when Changkyun appears,” Minhyuk whispers absentmindedly in the motel room now, pulling him out of his trance of the past.

Hyungwon pulls him closer and he lets him.

“It’s like you lost interest in me after we got married,” Hyungwon says into his back, half-joking, half-sulking. He wonders if Minhyuk remembers how he had been the one latching onto Hyungwon similarly back in that airport across the world before.

Minhyuk chuckles weakly, already drowsy.

It’s funny how their position has contrasted the one back in that summer when they were much younger.

A lot of things have changed, Hyungwon thinks. And Minhyuk points it out for him right there and then, “Well, maybe it’s payback for you always acting cold before marriage.”

Hyungwon groans slightly, and Minhyuk sighs at the warmth of Hyungwon’s breath seeping through the thin fabric of his shirt. 

He could be cold, Minhyuk pointed out at times. He just didn’t know how to express himself at the time. But when he learned how to he couldn’t unlearn, and he couldn’t stop. It’s a habit he feeds into any chance he gets. And it’s addictive when he knows that it’s for a person he’s going to have for the rest of his life. Just the thought sounds so soothingly absurd.

And then, as if an afterthought, Minhyuk asks, “Are you cold, honey? Want me to fetch that sweater? I packed one for you.”

Hyungwon just shakes his head against Minhyuk, sighing out of tiredness, and thankfulness.

Minhyuk then just pats his hands folded on his stomach then, signalling that they should really go to sleep.

Hyungwon wakes up to Minhyuk already playing with Changkyun on the other side of the bed. 

Sitting cross legged on the bed, Minhyuk’s laughing at Changkyun’s small hands for some reason. They’re filled with some rocks that they had collected outside of the room apparently.

Changkyun’s pockets are full, but he still wants to collect more rocks.

Hyungwon washes up, packs their things and then they’re out for breakfast at the first place they see that’s open.

It’s a small cafe, run by an old man and woman who look like they travel all the time.

Hyungwon’s eyeing the decorations made up of postcards from all over the world as they’re eating breakfast. Changkyun plays with his slinky dog under the table quietly next to Minhyuk.

There is no music playing in the cafe, the space echoes with the sound of people’s cups hitting its saucers, the scratching sounds of knives against ceramic plates. The old man grinding the coffee beans for Hyungwon is pale unlike one photo stuck high against the wall. Probably settled home long ago after travelling the world. He wonders if they have kids, and where they are now.

The old man gives them free toasts, friendly and asking them where they’re from and everything. Minhyuk answers back, equally friendly. He’s always the one who talks more to strangers compared to Hyungwon.

So when Hyungwon pays at the counter, the old woman takes his money and smiles at him, the crows feet by her eyes only emphasised by her days under the sun from all angles of the world, Hyungwon assumes. Her suntanned skin gives her an almost otherworldly glow.

“The two of you’s son?” She asks, glancing at Minhyuk who’s muttering discreetly to Changkyun about something. 

Hyungwon blinks at her, figuring that they were discreet enough by having Minhyuk shield Changkyun from anyone’s sight so he could play with his toy under the table without people growing suspicious at a floating object.

And in his confusion the old woman didn’t get her answer, so she chuckles, handing him the change. She has big dangling earrings on her ears, their shine is a little distracting to be honest.

“I suppose that’s the first time someone has ever asked you that?”

Hyungwon doesn’t lie as he nods, “Yeah.”

“Gotta get used to it,” she tells him. “I know some people aren’t used to it, but at least you should be. That’s your son, raise him proudly with your husband. That’s the most you can do.”

Hyungwon smiles at her, genuinely touched by her words. What she knows and may not know doesn’t matter here, he wants to accept those words anyway. “Thank you.”

She winks before walking back into the kitchen where her husband is preparing orders for other customers.

They’re back at the foothill, and while yesterday the whole place was eerie and menacing— during the day it’s just _abandoned_. There are weeds everywhere, tall grass and some fallen trees. The fallen trees are broken, most probably blown away by an old storm.

They’re all clear to see in the day, and Hyungwon wonders how they just managed to go up there when it was dark.

“Well, here we go,” Hyungwon tells Minhyuk, leading the way up now under the gentle sun. 

It’s not too hot, or too cold at that time of the day. Changkyun’s quiet as usual as they make their way up, nodding at Minhyuk’s questions every now and then if he isn’t distracted by some insect he sees on their way up.

_This is your home, right?_

_Do you remember this place?_

The house is as it was yesterday, except it’s bright inside as they step in, hands in hands. The windows are all broken and open, so the lights get in and Hyungwon’s glad of it. There are no signs of the ghosts, and Hyungwon’s glad they came at a right time too.

The graffitis are also clearer in the daylight now, and Minhyuk steers Changkyun clear of the spoons on the floor. Hyungwon finds his discarded racket, it’s bent, and he’s a little sad about it, but he takes it with him anyway.

“Wow this place is huge,” Minhyuk mutters as they walk through empty rooms one by one, only to find them to be empty and dusty. Changkyun just follows him quietly, looking at things with disinterest.

Hyungwon finds a door closed at the end of a hallway, and tries the doorknob. It’s locked. Minhyuk looks at him questioningly when he looks over his shoulder. He tries it again, and pushes at the old door with his shoulder. It gives. He pushes again, and the door opens.

Minhyuk rushes to him. “What room is this?” he asks with awe.

“I don’t know,” Hyungwon walks into the dusty room, with white display cupboards where the glasses are all shattered now.

There is a huge counter or table in the middle, a broken flask sat on it. With some circle, clear, dishes that Minhyuk picks up carefully.

Hyungwon eyes the vents at one corner of the wall. “I think this was a lab.”

Minhyuk puts down the dish almost immediately as if that means something spooky happened there. “Oh well, spooky.”

Hyungwon gives him a look. “This isn’t Frankenstein.”

Minhyuk gives him another look like that isn’t relevant but shrugs anyway.

There are some test tubes broken on the floor, and they crack under Hyungwon’s shoes. It seems like the laboratory was left with some of its equipments still there. Hyungwon doesn’t know if Changkyun’s father had meant for the house to be in its state right now, but it’s a little sad and a shame to think of how the house must have been when the family was still living there.

Must had been lively, and glorious standing over the sea.

Hyungwon turns to check on Changkyun, but Changkyun sees a door at the end of the room, shaking his hand out of Minhyuk’s hold. He runs through it immediately.

“Changkyun!” Minhyuk calls, running to the door, and trying it. But it’s shut tight.

“Where did he go?” Hyungwon asks, confused as he tries the door too, but it’s closed tight, and Hyungwon thinks it must be one of those laboratory door that leads outside. It won’t open as easily as other old doors in the house. “We should go outside.”

And he and Minhyuk hurries out of the room, looking through every empty rooms and finding a door that leads to the backyard through the old, messy kitchen filled with cobwebs.

True enough, Changkyun is outside, he’s crouching over something under a tall tree that has died some years go. Hyungwon thinks it must have provided shade when it used to be alive in the backyard.

Hyungwon sighs, wondering what Changkyun is doing. He can’t see from where he stands, but Minhyuk pulls at his arm when he tries to get the boy.

“Honey, look.”

Hyungwon looks at where Minhyuk’s pointing, and it’s a an upright slab of stone that has turned into a surface for the vines to grow. They just stare at it for a few seconds, taking in the the look of a stone jutting out of the earth on the cliff.

“It can’t be,” Hyungwon scoffs a little when he sees the look on Minhyuk’s face.

“Well, check it out,” Minhyuk nudges him towards the stone that he almost trips. 

He shakes his head. Terrified. Minhyuk pinches him and he shakes his head again, pulling Minhyuk in front of him like a shield instead.

“God, let’s just go together,” Minhyuk grabs his hand exasperatedly and pulls him towards it.

They check on Changkyun who’s still crouched under the tree before pulling at the vines.

And Changkyun’s name is written right there, grown with moss and a beetle crawled over it.

Under his name is the year he’s lived.

And scrawled under is; _the soul is not lost, even if they haven’t returned_.

“They never found him,” Minhyuk mutters, and he rubs at his face. His hand stops on his lips, concealing the sad frown he’s sporting.

It’s disheartening to find out that after all these years, no one has found Changkyun. No one ever knew where he went. Not even his father who left the house abandoned.

Hyungwon wraps an arm around Minhyuk, pulling him closer. He turns to look at Changkyun. “Well, he’s returned now.”

Minhyuk pulls his arm off him, sighing sadly, “Oh, Changkyun,” and makes his way to the child, squatting next to him to see what he’s doing and holding onto the little boy as if a ghost could be the most fragile thing in the world.

How could death turns one fragile, Hyungwon’s thinking.

Hyungwon looks back at what is supposed to be a tombstone but houses no body, and pulls the vines back over the name and writings underneath it. 

He goes to the two under the tree that just offers shade in the form of thin branches, as if imitating the spider webs inside.

“What are you doing?” Hyungwon squats on Changkyun’s other side, watching intently as Changkyun is removing a pile of stones on the ground.

He and Minhyuk stare at the stones gathered there, as Changkyun gets deeper and it’s just stones and stones and then stones and dirt, entangled with some roots now. Hyungwon helps him rip off the roots and he goes on.

Until they find a metal box buried in the ground. Changkyun’s dirty hands take the box carefully, it’s dented on its lid and they watch as Changkyun opens it.

Inside is what seems similar to the dish Minhyuk had picked up back in the laboratory, except it has a lid.

Changkyun takes it, discards the metal box back into the pile of stones.

“What’s that?” Minhyuk asks him, offering him a small curious smile.

Changkyun looks at him, and shows it to him gladly with his grubby little hands.

Hyungwon cranes his neck to take a good look too, and Minhyuk’s thumb wipes at the dust coating the clear surface.

They find a lock of hair, safely kept in the small dish.

“Oh,” Minhyuk mutters out almost confusedly, blinking at it.

Changkyun looks at the two of them, as if wondering why they’re not getting it.

“Mother,” he then tells them as an explanation.

Hyungwon and Minhyuk catch each other’s eyes. Minhyuk gives it back to him.

“Is it hers?” He asks, smiling down at Changkyun as Changkyun cleans it with his shirt, like it’s precious.

Changkyun nods.

“How did you get it?” Minhyuk asks again, this time brushing the back of Changkyun’s head gently.

“Scissors,” Changkyun tells him, finally getting up and dusting off his hands and pants. He pockets what probably is his most cherished treasure and then looks up at the two husbands expectantly, as if it’s entirely up to them to figure out what to do and where to go now that he’s got what he came here for.

“Do you still want to look around?” Minhyuk gestures to the house, but Changkyun shakes his head firmly.

Minhyuk blinks down at him, taking his hand. 

“Don’t you want to take a look at your room maybe?” Minhyuk points at the second floor. “It must be upstairs? We haven’t gone upstairs.”

Changkyun shakes his head again, tugging at Minhyuk’s hand to tell him he wants to leave.

“I guess, that’s it for this house then?” Hyungwon asks, almost bewildered.

Minhyuk shrugs, as Changkyun pulls at his hand again, leading the way inside again.

And he doesn’t spare a glance anywhere else in the house, just walks everyone out of the house. They’re making their way down the hill now, the visit cut extremely shorter than Hyungwon has expected it to be. Truthfully, he doesn’t know what he expects, there’s no one to leave a letter to, no fiancé to talk to, and it’s just an abandoned house. He doesn’t know how they could help Changkyun like how they returned Hoseok.

Changkyun’s still there. Despite him living his last day as the lost boy, he’s right there, he comes back every time.

It’s just wildly peculiar how ghosts work, Hyungwon’s thinking, immediately blinking the thoughts away when he finds Minhyuk waving his hand to catch up to them.

He runs to Minhyuk’s side, where Changkyun isn’t, and Minhyuk pulls him down slightly to whisper into his ear. He listens intently.

“I don’t know what we’re supposed to do now,” Minhyuk tells him.

Hyungwon finds it a little funny, so he offers him a small smile accompanied by a shrug. “I don’t know too,” he replies, and Changkyun doesn’t hear them talking.

“Should we just head home?” Minhyuk asks, eyebrows furrowed in puzzlement.

But Hyungwon smiles at the thought of going home. Although it proves to be confusing as they don’t know what to do next, maybe just going home isn’t such a bad idea. 

“Let’s head to the sea first, we can’t just head home without going to the sea,” Hyungwon tells him.

Minhyuk agrees easily, and Hyungwon picks Changkyun up to move quicker to the car, straightening the boy’s shirt as he asks him if he wants to go to the sea.

Changkyun nods. He says yes to everything that Hyungwon just chuckles as he lets Minhyuk get in the car before giving him the boy.

They walk along the pavement by the beach, where there are no other people around because it’s rather cold to be hanging outside. The sun is also concealed by the clouds by now, and Hyungwon thinks it might rain soon.

Yet they take their time, there is no rush anyway since they have nothing else to do. Changkyun skips around almost happily in the sea breeze, his hair flying wild everywhere as he hops around.

Minhyuk takes his hand so he wouldn’t trip, and Hyungwon grabs his other hand to swing him in the air.

It has Changkyun giggling— surprisingly— and Minhyuk throws him a surprised, content look.

“Changkyun,” Minhyuk asks, swinging their hands together. “Do you miss your mom?”

Changkyun takes a second to think, as he hops over a crack on the concrete ground. 

Hyungwon knows what people say about that, step on a crack you’ll break your mother’s back.

Changkyun then nods.

“What about your dad?” Minhyuk asks.

He nods again.

Minhyuk takes a deep breath. “Don’t you want to see him then?”

“Not here,” Changkyun answers, hopping again.

It’s true, they have no idea where he is, and Changkyun doesn’t seem to mind that he doesn’t see his father, so Minhyuk just sighs quietly. And when they see another crack, they lift Changkyun up instead, and it makes Changkyun happy, as he grins the widest he has ever had.

“What if we don’t let you down, so you’ll just be floating in the air?” Hyungwon asks happily, holding Changkyun’s hand tightly.

“Do it! Do it!” Changkyun surprisingly exclaims, and Minhyuk scoffs in surprise.

“Okay,” Hyungwon agrees and they lift Changkyun up in the air by both of his hands, and Changkyun squeals as they swing him in the air.

Minhyuk laughs loudly under the loud sea breeze. They do it a few more times just to hear Changkyun laugh and scream in delight, and Hyungwon knows it’s something they haven’t heard before, and both of them are just trying to get him be a little happier, a little less quiet, more like other kids they have seen before.

And it’s almost relieving, to see Changkyun finally acting like a 4 year old, instead of his usual silent, and rather gloomy demeanour.

Hyungwon’s phone vibrates in his pocket, and he takes it out as they resume walking along the pavement by the beach.

He reads through it, and immediately catches Minhyuk looking at him curiously.

“What is it?” He asks, raising an eyebrows, his shoulder shaking from Changkyun skipping and hopping, taking advantage of the two strong hands he’s holding onto to stay in the air a little longer.

Hyungwon stops walking, and Minhyuk stops too.

“Look,” Hyungwon shows him what’s on his phone as Minhyuk stands closer to read.

Changkyun shakes his hands out of theirs, and jumps over the curb. He starts running around on the sand, hopping and checking on his shoe prints.

“His father has been moving around lately,” Hyungwon tells him, eyeing the words written in an email his friend Hyunwoo has sent him, apologizing for getting back to him late but he has all the information Hyungwon needs now. “And while we don’t know where he might be now, some country in Europe maybe, we have his email address.”

And at the end of the email is the man’s email address. 

Hyungwon’s friend urges him to email the scientist, tell him whatever he needs to. And he also left a reminder to attend his daughter’s birthday party which is next week. There’s a colorful, digital invitation attached in the email.

Minhyuk blinks, his expression unfathomable as he stares at the email, and then checking over Changkyun who’s found a stick to play with.

“We should send him an email then,” Minhyuk speaks softly. “Tell him we found his son, the one who got lost— I mean, it must be weird it’s like 20 years later— I guess we can just tell him his son is—uh, not with us, but— safe—”

Hyungwon chuckles at Minhyuk’s loss for words, handing him the phone. “Let’s just tell him the truth.”

Minhyuk then looks at him in shock, eyes wide and lips moving but finding nothing to say until he finally gets to it, almost laughing, “that’s ridiculous.”

“Oh come on, you told me, and I believe you right?”

“Well, this is different, he’s a stranger!” Minhyuk retaliates.

“Hey,” Hyungwon wraps an arm around him to pull him closer, also to get warmer in the cold. “I don’t know but something tells me, for a father who must still be wondering where his son might be, he’d believe you if you just tell him the truth.”

Minhyuk stares at him doubtfully, mulling over the idea and then opening up a new, blank email.

“So, we’re going to ask him to come back here then?”

“I don’t know, that’s up to you,” Hyungwon shrugs, rubbing his thumb against Minhyuk’s shoulder as Minhyuk starts typing.

Once he’s done with the introduction he takes a long time to think of what to write. Hyungwon lets him think in the silence of the sea waves. 

Changkyun is still running around at the beach, where it’s grey, unlike the usual picture of a beach where it’s blue and vibrant.

Minhyuk stops to watch him too, and he chuckles fondly.

“He’s so cute,” Minhyuk mutters.

Hyungwon hums.

The glow of the sun is weak behind the grey clouds. Hyungwon wonders if this is the same sight Changkyun saw when he was alive.

“I did the math,” Hyungwon tells Minhyuk then. “If Changkyun is still alive, he’d be around our age. In his twenties.”

Minhyuk rests his head against Hyungwon. “That’s funny. I wonder how he would have grown up to be.”

Hyungwon shrugs with the weight of Minhyuk’s head on his shoulder, thinking of the years they have known each other and if they had thought they’d end up like this too, pair of husbands who are looking over a ghost child at the beach.

For some reason, it struck Hyungwon how real the boy in front of them is. How real he felt in his arms when he finally got to hold him. How the weight have seemed to ease the unknown restlessness in his arms when they found those rejected application papers. That boy before them is and was real. The small streets of this little town he roams, this is the beach he runs on, the sand where he leaves his footprints. The shore is the canvas he draws with a twig he's found lying around. He's the most real when he is here, where he lived his life. 

Quietly, the realization washes over Hyungwon like the ocean waves. How Minhyuk felt in that dark hallway of their house when he pleaded for the irrational. Hyungwon thinks he fully understands it now. 

Everything is real, as long as you can see it, touch it. And everything is rational when it is real. 

“It’s just a little sad though, isn’t it?” Minhyuk sighs. “His parents left him too soon. Maybe he’s only so lost when he found us because his dad wasn’t home when he returned in the first place.”

That’s a possibility, Hyungwon thinks, wondering how the circumstance would be when Changkyun would fade away and never return. It’s unthinkable. It’s hard to just picture the boy right there in front of them finally disappearing for good.

Maybe it had been harder for the father too.

Minhyuk then grows silent. He chews at his lips thoughtfully, that Hyungwon notices, and rubs at his arm to ask him what he’s thinking.

“Why wouldn’t his dad wait for him then?” Minhyuk asks.

Hyungwon’s a little stunned by the question.

“Why wouldn’t he just stay in that house in case Changkyun comes back,” he goes on. “Instead of leaving a slab of stone to tell everyone how he never returns?”

And Hyungwon understands the confusion, so he reasons for both of them, “Maybe it’s because it’s one place where both his loved ones left him, and he couldn’t stay anymore.”

Minhyuk sighs. It’s complicated. 

Everything’s complicated.

Like how the happiest day of Hyungwon’s life had been when his beloved parents weren’t there, and yet Minhyuk was there, vowing to spend the rest of his life with him.

Til death.

And he had joined his life with Minhyuk, leaving his parents out of it when they made it clear that they weren’t coming by their absence and lack of words. Not even a congratulation to their son who got married to the love of his life.

And Minhyuk seems to be thinking the same thing, as he takes Hyungwon’s hand, rubs at the wedding ring with his thumb.

When his parents made it clear they have abandoned him for whom he loves, he had promised to never abandon his love over whatever that may come.

And Minhyuk had cried, told him he wasn’t worth it. His parents would welcome him back if he just leaves him, it shouldn’t be a hard decision.

But when Hyungwon had thought of the way Minhyuk had endured every insult, and every attack that came his way from the very people who had raised Hyungwon—just because they were the ones who raised him— Hyungwon knew he couldn’t let Minhyuk go.

No one would ever love him that much, that _purely_. No one would fly halfway across the world just to make sure he eats and not flunk his studies. And then boldly ask the bothersome him to spend his life together with him after.

No one would be Minhyuk, and would ever be better than the best.

And if his own family has abandoned him for his marriage, he’d let it go. There is no use holding on to people who would not hold on to you in return. Because he has an oath to spend his life with Minhyuk now, and when he thinks of his in-laws who make him nervous but welcome him with warmth and snarky remarks that could rival his own, and his husband— _just that one person_ he has been so lucky to have married.

Then all is found.

At the beach, in his arms as they stare at the boy who was let go in a way. Returned home to no one to return to— and he’s still there.

Where is his home, Hyungwon wonders, pressing his lips against Minhyuk’s head and hair. Where is a home for a ghost who has no one now.

And Changkyun’s happy there, on the beach as he bends down and starts drawing on the sand with his stick and that’s when it makes sense.

“Oh,” Hyungwon blinks, holding Minhyuk tight as Minhyuk looks up at him confusedly. “That’s why he’s been drawing on the floor.”

Minhyuk watches. “Oh!” It comes to him too, a surprising realization.

“He’s been drawing on the sand all these time. Honey, we just didn’t know because we hadn’t gone to the beach,” Hyungwon mutters almost in awe, where everything clicks into place.

It’s a fascinating feeling, when he has figured out what had resulted in his aching back and dirty floor back home.

Changkyun then discards the stick, looking at some stones.

Hyungwon laughs a little as Changkyun pockets the ones he finds interesting. And he takes his time to judge each one too.

“There he goes again with his collection,” Minhyuk says, crossing his arms. “I have stones in my bag now.”

“Should buy him a backpack soon, or something,” Hyungwon mutters absentmindedly. Changkyun must have owned one before, but couldn’t take it with him when he passed.

And Changkyun looks out at the sea, hops around, collects more stones that fills and fills his heavy pockets. He’s having fun by himself, always well adapted at entertaining himself with whatever he finds. A child’s imagination that Hyungwon knows he would never get since he’s grown. 

But one he can witness clear as day now.

“We should head back soon,” Minhyuk then tells Hyungwon, as he just stares at the way Changkyun walks on the sand, heading for the water. He follows the waves, and runs backwards when the waves chase him in return. “It’s getting dark.”

And he chases the waves, and the waves chase him again. 

There’s a rhythm. It repeats.

Hyungwon takes a deep uncertain breath, letting go of Minhyuk.

“Hyungwon?”

He can’t take his eyes off Changkyun who’s chasing the waves.

“Minhyuk,” Hyungwon warns with a sudden urgency, walking across the pavement and hurrying his steps as the wind blows loudly in his ears with his rush. “Minhyuk, he’s getting in the water.”

And Changkyun’s chasing the waves, the waves chase him, and he does it back and forth and he’s in the water.

“The stones in his pockets!” Hyungwon almost screams— the sea breeze deafening— running on the sand as Changkyun runs into the water where the waves grew violent with the wind, the upcoming storm of darkening clouds.

It splashes against him yet it doesn’t deter him at all.

“Hyungwon!” Minhyuk calls him, running after him as he keeps his eyes on Changkyun who’s getting hit, wave by wave.

The water splashes at him, and yet he’s not deterred, he still chases it.

A hand grabs at Hyungwon’s arm, and tugs him back, but Hyungwon fights it. There’s a feeling, and he knows it. He doesn’t know it but he knows it.

“Minhyuk, he’s getting into the water.”

“Let him, Hyungwon.”

“But the stones—”

“Hyungwon, let him go!”

And Hyungwon falls back on his knees, as he couldn’t quite believe what he’s seeing, what he’s doing as he’s just letting a 4 year old boy walk further into the water. And the tears fill his eyes similarly like the violent waves, chasing an exit and it streams down his cheek.

“Changkyun! It’s not safe!” He shouts with sands in his hand, coarse between his fingers, and Changkyun doesn’t hear him. Minhyuk holds him tightly and he doesn’t know why he’s crying and why the boy wouldn’t listen to him. “Changkyun, come back.”

Minhyuk’s shaking as he buries his face into Hyungwon’s shoulder, fingers digging into Hyungwon’s arms. He pulls Hyungwon into him, tries to hide him from what is happening but Hyungwon watches.

“Hyungwon, _oh, honey_.”

The wave swallows the 4 year old, finally blanketing him into a watery embrace and tucks him into the sea, where it finally crashes down in the shore with all its might and leaves speckles of water sparkling in the air as it returns to the ocean.

And the ghost is no more.

“Why isn’t he coming back?”

He just doesn’t.

So Hyungwon lets the tears run on the sand, angry and sad that the boy wouldn’t emerge and return to them from the waves. With Minhyuk whispering into his ear that it’s okay. It’s fine.

He’s not coming back now.

He passed on.

The ride back is quiet.

Hyungwon stares at the empty, dark road absentmindedly.

The windshield wiper wipes the rainwater off the car, clearing the blurry image again with a swipe. There’s a distant lightning by the dark, stormy, grey sea they’re leaving.

Minhyuk takes his hand on his thigh. He squeezes it to thank him for the gesture of comfort.

Minhyuk pulls his hand to his lips, kisses it. And Hyungwon looks at him for a moment there, giving him a small smile of everything is okay.

Minhyuk smiles back, and then lies back in his seat, where he falls asleep for the remainder way home.

It doesn’t rain in the city, but the streets are dark and wet. The tires make small squelching sounds on the driveway when Hyungwon parks at home.

He kisses Minhyuk on the cheek to wake him, and Minhyuk stretches as he takes off the seatbelt.

“Home already?” Minhyuk asks, rubbing his eyes.

“Yeah,” Hyungwon answers, it was quite a drive but it was peaceful. And now he’s tired, he wants to get into bed because they have to work tomorrow.

Minhyuk reaches out with both arms, pouting. Hyungwon makes a futile attempt to carry him out of the car but finds himself struggling and it took a few tries of him just struggling, half outside the car and half inside before Minhyuk sighs and gets out himself.

On usual circumstances he might bring up Hyungwon’s one week gym trips but he doesn’t say anything. He just smiles at Hyungwon at a glance though, like he finds it funny, perhaps asking bringing up the same thing in his mind only.

Minhyuk takes their things out of the car, leaves the dented tennis racket in the trunk.

Hyungwon helps him take off his coat at the entrance and hangs it on the coat rack. Minhyuk touches the framed photo of the two of them on the credenza as he walks in like a routine, and just sighs as he unpacks their things in the living room.

Hyungwon didn’t remember the house being in such a messy state ever since they had taken a ghost child in. It just hits him now that the house is in such an unfamiliar condition compared to how it has always been, the living room scattered with drawings they have left behind before the trip. There are toys everywhere on the floor that Hyungwon shuffles to pick up one by one with a sigh because his back aches.

Minhyuk then puts them into the bag in his hand, proceeding to clean up the crayons and markers on the coffee table, just stuffing them all into the one big bag.

Hyungwon watches silently in the living room as Minhyuk gathers the papers, the drawings. 

When he sees the scrawling on the floor— purple crayon, he sighs a little.

“I’ll clean it up tomorrow.”

And Hyungwon follows him down the hallway, where he turns on the lights in the unoccupied room.

Hyungwon realizes he’s gathered all the other storybooks and toys into that room already. He had been ready. He knew they were coming back as two and accepted it long before Hyungwon did— and Hyungwon foolishly just realized that. Everything was packed and will be left in that room and they won’t look at that slinky dog toy poking out of the bag anymore. And Hyungwon will never know the ending to that book about the cave that is the mouth of a whale.

Even the collections of stones on the small table don’t shine and gleam with water anymore. It’s dull when it’s dry. Hyungwon wonders what’s the criteria for choosing the types of stones to collect and use to bury your mother’s strands of hair with.

When Hyungwon follows Minhyuk out of the room, when they turn off the lights and it’s dark again in that silent, empty house, he pulls at Minhyuk’s hand gently to turn him around.

And Minhyuk looks up at him questioningly.

When Hyungwon doesn’t offer him any words, he cups at Hyungwon’s face, stare fixated on the red, swollen eyes Hyungwon’s sporting and his face finally falls in defeat, scrunches painfully with everything he’s holding in this whole time.

And Minhyuk cries immediately with trembling lips, wordless and speechless as he just shakes his head.

Hyungwon pulls him in and holds his shaking form, kissing him where it doesn’t hurt because it isn’t supposed to hurt.

Most people will never know what it feels like to be sad for something— _someone_ who’s not there. Invisible. Who doesn’t exist.

Someone no longer existent yet was found.

So it’s not supposed to hurt if you’ve lost what you never had in the first place.

But Minhyuk weeps and sobs into Hyungwon like his life depended on it. His tears would last a lifetime, a whole lifetime of running through the streets alone and getting lost, a whole season of rain and storms, and they would rival the violent, inconsolable waves of the consuming sea.

At that moment, Hyungwon just accepted that both of them are as inconsolable too at this point.

The boy in front of Hyungwon swings his legs dangling off the giant couch. He doesn’t look at the adult in the room.

It’s been almost half an hour. The clock is ticking, loud in the silent room. 

Hyungwon had thanked him for coming back, but that’s about it. 

“Do you find it hard to talk?” Hyungwon asks.

The boy glances up at him, and shrugs as he looks down again.

Hyungwon takes a deep breath, thinking of the mother who has brought the boy there again for the second time and just staring at the sticky note he’s stuck on his notepad that day. He found it on his coat when he took it off in the office. Bright and pink.

_‘So thankful I found you. And you, me’._

“You are here because your mother thinks you would find it easier to talk about your troubles here,” Hyungwon starts, and the boy looks up at him as if in disapproval. And defiance. “And I understand how home might not be a comfortable place to start about it, and it might not be your mom, or your dad, or any other family members and I will admit I might not be the one you want to open up to too. But I can only offer you this; there will be someone, something out there that will listen to you and understand you when you open up. It doesn’t have to be anyone you know now, maybe something, someone new. You just need to know they’re out there. It might take time. But you will find them, and they will find you too. Just be ready because in the end, all _will_ be found.”

It sounds almost ridiculous, given how one’s situation may be so constrictive and suffocating that just the thought is too idealistic. Some time ago Hyungwon would find that an irrational kind of hope to hold on to, he’s well aware it might come off that way to the people he talks to on a daily basis too, but he’s learned so many times again and again, that for the rational to happen, it has to start from all that is irrational, the unknowing of what is to come. He’d rested easy with that thought long ago, when he opened his hands and put a ring on another’s finger. 

The boy’s expression softens just a little. He’s mulling over Hyungwon’s words, Hyungwon knows it. And he isn’t one to force someone to talk if they don’t want to, so he leans back in his seat, and just offers the boy a small smile.

“I think my mom just doesn’t understand,” the boy starts.

And Hyungwon nods, urges him to go on.

It’s raining again. Just a light drizzle that Hyungwon forgoes the umbrella to get to his car.

He realizes he’s gotten a voice message from Minhyuk. He couldn’t pick up the call since he was working. And he listens to it in the car as he backs out of his parking spot.

“ _Hey, honey, no need to get what I told you to on the text. I got off work early and went to the store by myself. They have some imported pineapples on sale so I got them for you! And uh, I found something interesting, um— Anyway, see you at home soon, I love you_.” Some kissy noises.

It’s already dark as he’s driving home, and the radio plays some songs Minhyuk had put on after their dinner date the night before. Some jazz, some blues, a man singing forlornly about something. Love most probably.

When he sees the lights on in the house, he rushes out of his car, knowing that Minhyuk is home already. 

And he didn’t expect to open the door and find the coat rack toppled, hearing Minhyuk shrieking from the back of the house as something out of his sight crashes loudly on to the floor, the lights flickering as if shocked too.

Instantly panicked, Hyungwon throws his shoes off his feet, rushing into the house and stopping right away when a boy runs across the hallway and into the living room, laughing loudly. Just zooming past him with no care for his surroundings.

Minhyuk follows, running and almost slipping on his socks and his footsteps thud loudly in the house as he catches the boy in his arms, tumbling down on the floor.

The boy laughs loudly, shrieking, like he’s glad to be caught.

Hyungwon watches the two rolling on the floor, loud and unfamiliar.

“Honey?”

Minhyuk stops moving on the floor as soon as he realizes Hyungwon’s there, and the boy attempts to untangle himself from Minhyuk’s arms but Minhyuk holds him tighter.

The boy looks up at Hyungwon curiously, wild blue hair jutting here and there after the ruckus he has made in the house because the living room’s messy, the pillows are thrown here and there, the blanket crumpled, hanging on the tv.

“Hyungwon, I didn’t know you were back,” Minhyuk’s panting, out of breath as he brings the child up with him.

And the child must not be more than 10 years old, Hyungwon’s thinking, as they just look at one another.

“Uh, I got your message,” Hyungwon mutters, the boy just blinks at him with a mischievous grin, looking like he’s ready to bolt out of Minhyuk’s arms that are keeping him still. “Minhyuk, who is this?”

Minhyuk laughs a little, “Oh!” He brushes the boy’s hair with his fingers, straightening his shirt as if to make him more presentable to Hyungwon. “Hyungwon, say hi to Jooheon.”

Jooheon grins up at Hyungwon.

“Jooheon, say hi to Hyungwon.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> [Swallowed in the sea - Coldplay](https://open.spotify.com/track/2u2WL5N3KnQnykOZi3fxL6)  
> 
> 
> Obligatory this was supposed to be a oneshot but i went overboard again and now its too long to post as a oneshot.
> 
> Phew!! Okay now that i got that out of the way i'd like to thank those who sent feedback and left comments for the first chapter uwu yall are so encouraging it really helped in the process of working on the update! And im so sorry about the hoseok situation, especially since i posted the first chapter when things weren't that great for the fandom, and a few people have come to me and pointed out the angst and i hear you, i understand you (the angst isn't on purpose it just happened i just wanted hyunghyuk to be married and silly together here) and i miss wonho a great deal too, especially now that we know he's out and about freely!! 
> 
> for the personal sake of keeping records (and clarification for some) this was written at the end of August 2019, completed sometime in September 2019, and if you've read and followed my other works you know i take a long time editing and posting ajshdkajsdlsad (and also i didnt know our fandom would change so much at that time)
> 
> Anyway!! Thank you so much for reading! And for the patience!! Stay safe at home amidst the pandemic guys and itd be lovely if yall take some time to leave feedbacks, thoughts, or just small comments cause it would mean so much for me to read and reply to while im stuck in my own quarantine!!
> 
> Or reach me on [twitter](https://twitter.com/eatramyeon) and [ curious cat](https://curiouscat.me/eatramyeon)!


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